Concept in Definition ABC

We understand by autotroph or autotroph to 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 then are those that feed by obtaining from environment the substances and elements necessary to produce its own food within it. Only plants can, in this way, be considered autotrophic beings.

The concept of autotrophs, from the biology, is used to designate those people who take elements of nature to transform them inside into food. 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 the 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 beings

heterotrophs, 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 inside.

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 not directly start never having the herbivores and then the carnivores nothing to feed on, both heterotrophs. Autotrophs serve as a source of Energy for heterotrophs that consume them directly (herbivores) or indirectly (carnivores).

Topics in Autotroph