Question

What is nutrition? Explain heterotrophic nutrition with their types

Answer 1

Hint: Organisms require transfer of certain molecules from outside to the body. Organism takes in and assimilates food for promoting growth and replacing injured tissues. They produce their food themselves or depend on other organisms for their nutritional requirements. They may feed on other animals like predators or synthesize their own food as in plants.

Complete step-by-step answer:
Nutrition is the overall process by which living organisms synthesize or produce their food, utilize it for maintenance and work, and convert it to cytoplasmic constituents for growth, health, repair, regeneration, and reproduction. It involves a series of biochemical and physiological changes by which components of food are converted to the constituents of the body. The energy giving and body- building constituents of food are called nutrients. Based on the source of nutrients, two major kinds of nutrition can be recognized, autotrophy, and hypertrophy. In autotrophy, organisms synthesize nutrients all by themselves, whereas in hypertrophy, they get them from other organisms. Hetero trophic nutrition is classified variously based on different aspects. Two kinds of hypertrophy can be recognized based on the source of nitrogen; Mesotrophy and Meta Trophy. In Mesotrophic, a single amino acid serves as a source of nutrition whereas in the metatroph source of nitrogen requirement consists of different kinds of amino acids. Based on the nature of food and mode of feeding, five kinds of hypertrophy can be recognized; Mutualism, parasitism, Saprotrophs, Osmotrophy, and homotrophy. Mutualism is a mutually beneficial nutritional relation between two different species. Parasitism is the kind of nutrition in which the organism feeds upon the food, body fluid, or tissue of the mother organism without necessarily killing it. saprotrophs is the mode of nutrition in which the organisms feed on the dead and decaying matter for their nutritional requirement. Holotrophy is the nutrition in which complex solid or liquid food materials are taken into the body and digested inside.

Additional information:
- Heterotrophs are unable to synthesize organic nutrients from inorganic constituents using free energy and so they entirely depend upon other organisms.
- All animals, fungi, most protests, and most bacteria are heterotrophs.
- Mutualism in turn is of two kinds obligatory and facultative. Obligatory is the compulsory relation in which neither species can survive from the other. Facultative mutualism is a voluntary association in which both organisms can live without each other.
- Parasitism also can be obligatory or facultative.
- Holotrophy is common among animals and most protests. Organisms exhibiting Homotrophy are called holographs.

Note:
- Based on feeding habit holography is classified into different types; Herbivory, Carnivory, Omnivory, Insectivory, Sanguivorous, Detritivory, etc.
- Herbivore is the habit of feeding algae and plants, Carnivory in the habit of feeding other animals, Omnivory is the nutrition in which the food consists of plant and animal materials, Insectivory is the habit of feeding insects.
- Sanguivorous is the blood- feeding habit, Detritivory is the habit of feeding detritus.