Editing Detritivore

{{Short description|Animal that feeds on decomposing plant and animal parts as well as faeces}}[[Image:Earthworm.jpg|thumb|[[Earthworm]]s are soil-dwelling detritivores .]] 
'''Detritivores''' (also known as '''detrivores''', '''detritophages''', '''detritus feeders''' or '''detritus eaters''') are [[heterotroph|heterotrophs]] that obtain [[nutrient|nutrients]] by consuming [[detritus]] (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as [[feces]]).<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Wetzel RG | date = 2001 | title = Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems. | publisher = Academic Press | edition = 3rd. | pages = 700 | isbn = 978-0-12-744760-5 }}</ref> There are many kinds of [[invertebrate|invertebrates]], [[vertebrate|vertebrates]], and [[plant|plants]] that eat detritus or carry out [[coprophagia|coprophagy]]. By doing so, all these detritivores contribute to [[decomposition]] and the [[nutrient cycles]]. Detritivores should be distinguished from other [[decomposer|decomposers]], such as many species of [[bacteria]], [[fungi]] and [[protist|protists]], which are unable to ingest discrete lumps of matter. Instead, these other decomposers live by absorbing and metabolizing on a molecular scale ([[saprotrophic nutrition]]). The terms ''detritivore'' and ''decomposer'' are often used interchangeably, but they describe different organisms. Detritivores are usually [[Arthropod|arthropods]] and help in the process of [[Remineralisation|remineralization]]. Detritivores perform the first stage of remineralization, by fragmenting the dead plant matter, allowing decomposers to perform the second stage of remineralization.<ref name="Keddy_2017">{{Cite book| vauthors = Keddy P |title=Plant Ecology, Origins, Processes, Consequences 2nd Ed.|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2017|isbn=978-1-107-11423-4|location=New York|pages=92–93}}</ref>  

Plant tissues are made up of resilient molecules (e.g.  [[cellulose]], [[lignin]], [[xylan]]) that decay at a much lower rate than other organic molecules. The activity of detritivores is the reason why there is not an accumulation of plant litter in nature.<ref name="Keddy_2017" /><ref name="Sagi_2019">{{cite journal | vauthors = Sagi N, Grünzweig JM, Hawlena D | title = Burrowing detritivores regulate nutrient cycling in a desert ecosystem | journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences | volume = 286 | issue = 1914 | pages = 20191647 | date = November 2019 | pmid = 31662076 | pmc = 6842856 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.2019.1647 }}</ref>

[[Image:Adonis Blue butterflies.jpg|thumb|right|Two [[Adonis blue]] butterflies lap at a small lump of feces lying on a rock.]]

Detritivores are an important aspect of many [[ecosystem|ecosystems]]. They can live on any type of soil with an organic component, including [[marine ecosystems]], where they are termed interchangeably with [[bottom feeder|bottom feeders]]. 

Typical detritivorous animals include [[millipedes]], [[Collembola|springtail]]s, [[woodlice]], [[Scathophagidae|dung flies]], [[slugs]], many [[wikt:terrestrial|terrestrial]] [[Worm|worms]], [[sea stars]], [[sea cucumbers]], [[fiddler crabs]], and some sedentary marine [[Polychaete]]s such as worms of the family [[Terebellidae]]. 

Detritivores can be classified into more specific groups based on their size and biomes. Macrodetritivores are larger organisms such as millipedes, springtails, and woodlouse, while microdetritivores are smaller organisms such as bacteria.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Schmitz|first1=Oswald J|title=Chapter Ten – Functional Traits and Trait-Mediated Interactions: Connecting Community-Level Interactions with Ecosystem Functioning|date=2015-01-01|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065250415000045|work=Advances in Ecological Research|volume=52|pages=319–343|editor-last=Pawar|editor-first=Samraat|series=Trait-Based Ecology – From Structure to Function|publisher=Academic Press|language=en|doi=10.1016/bs.aecr.2015.01.003|access-date=2021-02-20|last2=Buchkowski|first2=Robert W|last3=Burghardt|first3=Karin T|last4=Donihue|first4=Colin M.|editor2-last=Woodward|editor2-first=Guy|editor3-last=Dell|editor3-first=Anthony I|archive-date=2021-05-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210530021207/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065250415000045|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=De Smedt|first1=Pallieter|last2=Wasof|first2=Safaa|last3=Van de Weghe|first3=Tom|last4=Hermy|first4=Martin|last5=Bonte|first5=Dries|last6=Verheyen|first6=Kris|date=2018-10-01|title=Macro-detritivore identity and biomass along with moisture availability control forest leaf litter breakdown in a field experiment|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929139318302816|journal=Applied Soil Ecology|language=en|volume=131|pages=47–54|doi=10.1016/j.apsoil.2018.07.010|bibcode=2018AppSE.131...47D |s2cid=92379245|issn=0929-1393|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

[[Scavengers]] are not typically thought to be detritivores, as they generally eat large quantities of organic matter, but both detritivores and scavengers are the same type of cases of [[consumer-resource systems]].<ref name="Getz_2011">{{cite journal | vauthors = Getz WM | title = Biomass transformation webs provide a unified approach to consumer-resource modelling | journal = Ecology Letters | volume = 14 | issue = 2 | pages = 113–24 | date = February 2011 | pmid = 21199247 | pmc = 3032891 | doi = 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01566.x | bibcode = 2011EcolL..14..113G }}</ref> The consumption of wood, whether alive or dead, is known as [[xylophagy]]. The activity of animals feeding only on dead wood is called [[wikt:sapro-|sapro]]-xylophagy and those animals, sapro-xylophagous.

==Ecology==
[[File:Mycena interrupta.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Fungi are the primary [[decomposers]] in most environments, illustrated here ''[[Mycena interrupta]]''. Only fungi produce the enzymes necessary to decompose [[lignin]], a chemically complex substance found in wood.]]
[[File:Decaying tree trunk..jpg|thumb|A decaying tree trunk in Canada's [[boreal forest]]. Decaying wood fills an important ecological niche, providing habitat and shelter, and returning important nutrients to the soil after undergoing decomposition.]]
[[File:Detritivore nutrient cycling model.png|thumb|Detritivore nutrient cycling model]]
Detritivores play an important role as recyclers in the ecosystem's [[energy flow (ecology)|energy flow]] and [[Biogeochemical cycle|biogeochemical cycles]].<ref name="Lindsey-Robbins_2019">{{cite journal | vauthors = Lindsey-Robbins J, Vázquez-Ortega A, McCluney K, Pelini S | title = Effects of Detritivores on Nutrient Dynamics and Corn Biomass in Mesocosms | journal = Insects | volume = 10 | issue = 12 | pages = 453 | date = December 2019 | pmid = 31847249 | pmc = 6955738 | doi = 10.3390/insects10120453 | doi-access = free }}</ref>  Alongside decomposers, they reintroduce vital elements such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, and potassium back into the soil, allowing plants to take in these elements and use them for growth.<ref name="Keddy_2017" /> They shred the dead plant matter which releases the trapped nutrients in the plant tissues. An abundance of detritivores in the soil allows the ecosystem to efficiently recycle nutrients.<ref name="Lindsey-Robbins_2019" />

Many detritivores live in mature [[woodland]], though the term can be applied to certain [[bottom-feeder]]s in [[Benthos|wet environments]]. These organisms play a crucial role in [[benthic]] ecosystems, forming essential [[food chain]]s and participating in the [[nitrogen cycle]].<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Tenore KR | collaboration = [[Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment|SCOPE]] | chapter = Nitrogen in benthic food chains. | veditors = Blackbrun TH, Sorensen J | title = Nitrogen cycling in coastal marine environments. | date = March 1988 | volume = 21 | pages = 191–206 | chapter-url = http://globalecology.stanford.edu/DGE/CIWDGE/SCOPE%20Books%20Web%20Archive/SCOPE%2033/SCOPE_33_2.06_Tenore_191-206.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070610021232/http://globalecology.stanford.edu/DGE/CIWDGE/SCOPE%20Books%20Web%20Archive/SCOPE%2033/SCOPE_33_2.06_Tenore_191-206.pdf |archive-date= 2007-06-10 }}</ref> Detritivores and decomposers that reside in the desert live in burrows underground to avoid the hot surface since underground conditions provide favorable living conditions for them. Detritivores are the main organisms in clearing plant litter and recycling nutrients in the desert. Due to the limited vegetation available in the desert, desert detritivores adapted and evolved ways to feed in the extreme conditions of the desert.<ref name="Sagi_2019" /> Detritivore feeding behaviour is affected by rainfall; moist soil increases detritivore feeding and excretion.<ref name="Lindsey-Robbins_2019" />

Fungi, acting as decomposers, are important in today's terrestrial environment. During the [[Carboniferous period]], fungi and bacteria had yet to evolve the capacity to digest [[lignin]], and so large deposits of dead plant tissue accumulated during this period, later becoming the [[fossil fuel]]s.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Biello D | date = 28 June 2012 | title = White Rot Fungi Slowed Coal Formation | journal = Scientific American | url = https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mushroom-evolution-breaks-down-lignin-slows-coal-formation/ | access-date = 9 August 2020 | archive-date = 24 December 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201224221336/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mushroom-evolution-breaks-down-lignin-slows-coal-formation/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

By [[feeding]] on sediments directly to extract the organic component, some detritivores incidentally concentrate [[toxic]] [[pollutant]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2024-02-02 |title=Microplastics in the Marine Environment: Sources, Fates, Impacts and Microbial Degradation - PMC |pmc=7927104 |last1=Yang |first1=H. |last2=Chen |first2=G. |last3=Wang |first3=J. |journal=Toxics |volume=9 |issue=2 |page=41 |doi=10.3390/toxics9020041 |doi-access=free |pmid=33671786 }}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Decomposer]]
*[[Saprotrophic nutrition]]
*''[[Nepenthes ampullaria]]''
*[[Consumer-resource systems]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Feeding}}
{{modelling ecosystems}}

[[Category:Detritivores| ]]
[[Category:Eating behaviors]]
[[Category:Microbial growth and nutrition]]
[[Category:Mycology]]
[[Category:Soil biology]]
[[Category:Animals by eating behaviors]]