Question

Write two differences between autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition.

Answer 1

Hint: Organisms need food to derive nourishment and energy. The nourishment derived from the nutrition contained in the food helps the organism to survive and carry out different biological processes. The food consumed or prepared by the organism are assimilated and absorbed in the cellular level.

Complete answer:
Organisms that are using substances that exist in their environment in their raw form and produce complex compounds are considered to have autotrophic nutrition, whereas in heterotrophic nutrition the organism cannot prepare its own food but depends on other organisms for food supply.

Autotrophic nutrition	Heterotrophic nutrition
The mode of nutrition in which the organism is capable of preparing their own food.	The mode of nutrition in which the organism does not prepare their food themselves
In this type of nutritional process, the organism is independent of other organisms for food.	In this type, the organism is dependent on other organisms for food as nourishment.
This type of nutritional mode involves preparing food using carbon dioxide and water in the presence of sunlight through the process of photosynthesis.	No photosynthetic activity occurs.
The organism employing this mode of nutrition are known as producers.	The organisms employing this mode of nutrition are known as consumers.
In this mode of nutrition, simple inorganic substances are converted into complex organic ones.	It involves consumption of complex organic compounds and then digested to break down into simpler components.
This mode of nutrition is carried out by the plants and some blue-green algae and bacteria.	The heterotrophic mode of nutrition occurs in all animals, fungi and all other non-photosynthetic organisms.

Additional information:
Plants and animals do not receive food in the same way. Plants and certain bacteria have green pigment chlorophyll to help synthesize food, whereas plants, fungi and other bacteria are food dependent on other organisms as they do not contain any specialized apparatus as the photosynthetic apparatus.

Note: Autotrophs are the organisms that are capable of preparing food of their own from simpler inorganic substances. Photosynthetic autotrophs such as plants, algae, and certain bacteria absorb energy from the sun using chlorophyll. Heterotrophs are the organisms that depend on other organisms for supply of food as they are incapable of producing their own food.