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Primary nutritional groups are groups of organisms, divided according to the sources of energy and carbon, needed for living, growth and reproduction. The sources of energy can be light and organic or inorganic compounds; the sources of carbon can be of organic or inorganic origin. ^[1]

The terms aerobic respiration, anaerobic respiration and fermentation do not refer to primary nutritional groups, but simply reflect the different use of possible electron acceptors in particular organisms, such as O₂ in aerobic respiration, or NO₃^-, SO₄^2- or fumarate in anaerobic respiration, or various metabolic intermediates in fermentation. Because all ATP-generating steps in fermentation involve modifications of metabolic intermediates instead of the use of an electron transport chain fermentation is often referred to as substrate-level phosphorylation.

Primary sources of energy [edit]

Phototrophs: Light is absorbed in photo receptors and transformed into chemical energy.
Chemotrophs: Bond energy is released from a chemical compound.

The freed energy is stored as potential energy in ATP, carbohydrates, lipids or proteins. Eventually, the energy is used for life processes as moving, growth and reproduction.

Some bacteria can alternate phototrophy and chemotrophy, depending on availability of light.

Primary sources of reducing equivalents [edit]

Organotrophs: Organic compounds are used as electron donor.
Lithotrophs: Inorganic compounds are used as electron donor.

The electrons from reducing equivalents are needed by both, phototrophs and chemotrophs, to keep running reduction-oxidation reactions that transfer energy. The electron donors are taken up from the environment.

Organotrophic organisms are often also heterotrophic, using organic compounds as sources of electrons and carbon at the same time. Similarly, lithotrophic organisms are often also autotrophic, using inorganic sources of electrons and CO₂ as inorganic carbon source.

Some lithotrophic bacteria can utilize diverse sources of electrons, depending on availability of possible donors.

Primary sources of carbon [edit]

Heterotrophs: Organic compounds are metabolized to get carbon for growth and development.
Autotrophs: Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is used as source of carbon.

Energy and carbon [edit]

Yellow fungus

A chemoorganoheterotrophic organism is one that requires organic substrates to get its carbon for growth and development, and that produces its energy from oxido-reduction of an organic compound. This group of organisms may be further subdivided according to what kind of organic substrate and compound they use. Decomposers are examples of Chemoorganoheterotrophs which obtain carbon and electron reactions from dead organic matter. Herbivores and carnivores are examples of organisms that obtain carbon and electron reactions from living organic matter.

Chemoorganotrophs are organisms which oxidize the chemical bonds in organic compounds as their energy source. Chemoorganotrophs also attain the carbon molecules that they need for cellular function from these organic compounds. The organic compounds that they oxidize include sugars (i.e. glucose), fats and proteins).^[2]

All animals are chemoheterotrophs (meaning they oxidize chemical compounds as a source of energy and carbon), as are fungi, protozoa, and some bacteria. The important differentiation amongst this group is that chemoorganotrophs oxidize only organic compounds while chemolithotrophs instead use inorganic compounds as a source of energy.^[3]

Table [edit]

* Some authors use -hydro- when the source is water.

Mixotrophs [edit]

Some, usually unicellular, organisms can switch between different metabolic modes, for example between photoautotrophy and chemoheterotrophy. ^[4] Such mixotrophic organisms may dominate their habitat, due to their capability to use more resources than either photoautotrophic or organoheterotrophic organisms. ^[5]

Examples [edit]

All sorts of combinations may exist in nature. For example most cyanobacteria are photoautotrophic, since they use light as an energy source, water as electron donor, and CO₂ as a carbon source. Fungi are chemoorganotrophic since they use organic carbon as both an electron donor and carbon source. Eukaryotes are generally easy to categorise. All animals are heterotrophic, as are fungi. Plants are generally photoautotrophic. Some eukaryotic microorganisms, however, are not limited to just one nutritional mode. For example, some algae live photoautotrophically in the light, but shift to chemoorganotrophy in the dark. Even higher plants retained their ability to respire heterotrophically on the starch at night which had been synthesised phototrophically during the day.

Prokaryotes show a great diversity of nutritional categories. For example, purple sulfur bacteria and cyanobacteria are generally photoautotrophic whereas purple non-sulfur bacteria are photoorganotrophic. Some bacteria are limited to only one nutritional group, whereas others are facultative and switch from one mode to the other, depending on the nutrient sources available.

See also [edit]

References [edit]

v t e Modelling ecosystems – trophic components General Abiotic component Abiotic stress Behaviour Biogeochemical cycle Biomass Biotic component Biotic stress Carrying capacity Competition Ecosystem Ecosystem ecology Ecosystem model Keystone species List of feeding behaviours Metabolic theory of ecology Productivity Producers Autotrophs Chemosynthesis Chemotrophs Foundation species Mixotrophs Myco-heterotrophy Mycotroph Organotrophs Photoheterotrophs Photosynthesis Photosynthetic efficiency Phototrophs Primary nutritional groups Primary production Consumers Apex predator Bacterivore Carnivores Chemoorganotroph Foraging Generalist and specialist species Intraguild predation Herbivores Heterotroph Heterotrophic nutrition Insectivore Mesopredator release hypothesis Omnivores Optimal foraging theory Predation Prey switching Decomposers Chemoorganoheterotrophy Decomposition Detritivores Detritus Microorganisms Archaea Bacteriophage Environmental microbiology Lithoautotroph Lithotrophy Microbial cooperation Microbial ecology Microbial food web Microbial intelligence Microbial loop Microbial mat Microbial metabolism Phage ecology Food webs Biomagnification Ecological efficiency Ecological pyramid Energy flow Food chain Trophic level Example webs Cold seeps Hydrothermal vents Intertidal Kelp forests Lakes North Pacific Subtropical Gyre Rivers San Francisco Estuary Soil Tide pool Processes Ascendency Bioaccumulation Cascade effect Climax community Competitive exclusion principle Consumer-resource systems Copiotrophs Dominance Ecological network Ecological succession Energy quality Energy Systems Language f-ratio Feed conversion ratio Feeding frenzy Mesotrophic soil Nutrient cycle Oligotroph Paradox of the plankton Trophic cascade Trophic mutualism Trophic state index Defense/counter Animal coloration Antipredator adaptations Camouflage Deimatic behaviour Herbivore adaptations to plant defense Mimicry Plant defense against herbivory Predator avoidance in schooling fish

v t e Modelling ecosystems – other components Population ecology Abundance Allee effect Depensation Ecological yield Effective population size Intraspecific competition Logistic function Malthusian growth model Maximum sustainable yield Overpopulation in wild animals Overexploitation Population cycle Population dynamics Population modeling Population size Predator–prey equations Recruitment Resilience Small population size Stability Species Biodiversity Density-dependent inhibition Ecological effects of biodiversity Ecological extinction Endemic species Flagship species Gradient analysis Indicator species Introduced species Invasive species Latitudinal gradients in species diversity Minimum viable population Neutral theory Occupancy-abundance relationship Population viability analysis Priority effect Rapoport's rule Relative abundance distribution Relative species abundance Species diversity Species homogeneity Species richness Species distribution Species-area curve Umbrella species Species interaction Antibiosis Biological interaction Commensalism Community ecology Ecological facilitation Interspecific competition Mutualism Storage effect Spatial ecology Biogeography Cross-boundary subsidy Ecocline Ecotone Ecotype Disturbance Edge effects Foster's rule Habitat fragmentation Ideal free distribution Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis Island biogeography Landscape ecology Landscape epidemiology Landscape limnology Metapopulation Patch dynamics r/K selection theory Source–sink dynamics Niche Ecological niche Ecological trap Ecosystem engineer Environmental niche modelling Guild Habitat Marine habitats Limiting similarity Niche apportionment models Niche construction Niche differentiation Other networks Assembly rules Bateman's principle Bioluminescence Ecological collapse Ecological debt Ecological deficit Ecological energetics Ecological indicator Ecological threshold Ecosystem diversity Emergence Extinction debt Kleiber's law Liebig's law of the minimum Marginal value theorem Thorson's rule Xerosere Other Allometry Alternative stable state Balance of nature Biological data visualization Constructal theory Ecocline Ecological economics Ecological footprint Ecological forecasting Ecological humanities Ecological stoichiometry Ecopath Ecosystem based fisheries Endolith Evolutionary ecology Functional ecology Industrial ecology Macroecology Microecosystem Natural environment Regime shift Systems ecology Theoretical ecology List of ecology topics