Detritivores, also known as
detritophages,
detritus feeders,
detritus eaters, or
saprophages, are
heterotrophs that obtain
nutrients by consuming
detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as
feces). There are many kinds of
invertebrates,
vertebrates and
plants that carry out
coprophagy. By doing so, all these detritivores contribute to
decomposition and the
nutrient cycles. They should be distinguished from other
decomposers, such as many species of
bacteria,
fungi and
protists, which are unable to ingest discrete lumps of matter, but instead live by absorbing and metabolizing on a molecular scale (
saprotrophic nutrition). However, the terms
detritivore and
decomposer are often used interchangeably. Various word roots relating to decayed matter (
detritus, ), eating and nutrition (
-vore,
-phage), and plants or life forms (,
-obe) produce various terms, such as detritivore, detritophage,
saprotroph,
saprophyte,
saprophage, and
saprobe; their meanings overlap, although technical distinctions (based on physiologic mechanisms) narrow the
senses.
