Question

In a natural ecosystem, decomposers include
A) Only microscopic animals
B) Only bacteria and fungi
C) The above two types of organisms plus microscopic animals
D) None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Decomposers include those organisms which cannot be seen with our naked eyes.

Complete Answer:
- Decomposers are organisms which break down dead or dying organisms and perform decomposition.
- Decomposers are heterotrophic, implying that they use organic substrates for growth and development to get their energy, carbon and nutrients. Decomposers play a critical part in every ecosystem.
- Dead organisms cannot be broken down without decomposers, and recycled into other biological organisms. Decomposers do not need to absorb organic material internally to break it down; instead, through biochemical reactions, they can break up matter.

Now, let us find the solution from the options-
- Decomposers are microscopic organisms which cannot be seen by our naked eyes, such as the bacteria and the fungi.
- Bacteria are microscopic, single-celled organisms found almost everywhere on Earth.
- During decomposition, bacteria destroy their host and unwittingly provide nutrients for other bacteria.
- In many environments, fungi are the key decomposers, they have hyphae, that are branching filaments, and these hyphae are capable of penetrating organic matter, creating successful decomposers.

Thus, the correct answer is option (C) the above two types of organisms plus microscopic animals.

Note: Students should know about microscopic animals which are called microorganisms or microbes and they are present in large numbers in virtually every Earth environment. The microorganism studies are called microbiology. Bacteria are the tiny micro-organisms, varying in size from 0.0001 to 0.001 mm. Fungi are a group of mainly microscopic species closely connected with the animals.