environment

definition of autotrophic

By autotrophic or autotrophic we understand living beings that feed themselves and that produce their own food inside, which means that they do not need to look for it outside. The word autotroph comes from the Greek, a language in which the prefix carmeans own, self and trophsfeeding. Autotrophic beings are then those that feed by obtaining from the environment the substances and elements necessary to produce their own food inside. Only plants can, in this way, be considered autotrophic beings.

The concept of autotrophs, coming from biology, is used to designate those people who take elements from nature to transform them into food inside. In this way, plants are the only ones that carry out this process, taking from their surroundings natural elements that are not properly food such as light or carbon dioxide and transforming them inside into chlorophyll or food that allows them to grow and develop. The rest of the living beings, that is, the animals and the human being, are heterotrophic beings, which means that they feed on other living beings, whether they are herbivores or carnivores, they do not take inorganic elements to transform them into food.

Living beings considered autotrophs, plants and some microorganisms, are understood as the first link in the food chain since herbivorous animals feed on them, which then serve as food for carnivorous beings. This means that without the existence of vegetation, life would not be possible since the food chain could never directly start as herbivores and then carnivores had nothing to feed on, both heterotrophs. Autotrophs serve as a source of energy for heterotrophs that consume them directly (herbivores) or indirectly (carnivores).

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