Question

Are Humans decomposers?

Answer 1

Hint: Consumers and decomposers could not exist without plants (the primary producers). Every food chain is always started by a producer. A consumer, also known as a heterotroph, is a living organism that cannot produce its own food. For energy, it must consume producers or other organisms.

Complete answer:
Decomposers are microorganisms that digest dead or decaying plants and animals and turn them into humus. An ecosystem is defined as a community of living things that compete with non-living things and interact with one another. Saprophytes such as fungi and bacteria are decomposers. They feed directly on dead and decaying organic matter. Decomposers are important for the ecosystem because they help recycle nutrients so that plants can reuse them.

The following is a decomposer's role in the ecosystem:
- They act as an environmental cleanser by decomposing dead plants and animals.
- They aid in the recycling of nutrients.
- They make room for a new life in the biosphere by decomposing the dead.
- They aid in the reintroduction of various elements into the water, soil, and air for reuse by producers such as crop plants.

Humans are customers. They are omnivorous. Decomposers are organisms that consume dead and decaying plant and animal matter. They disintegrate matter during decomposition, releasing minerals and nutrients back into the soil. This is eventually depleted by the plants for their nutritional needs. This process does not involve humans. Fungi and bacteria are examples of decomposers.

Thus, Humans are not decomposers.

Note: The majority of decomposers are microscopic organisms such as protozoa and bacteria. Other decomposers are visible without a microscope. Fungi are among them, as are invertebrate organisms known as detritivores, which include earthworms, termites, and millipedes.