Knowra Detritus Detritus Detritus is dead organic material, including fallen leaves, carcasses, and feces. It supplies energy and nutrients to organisms that consume or decompose it.
Decomposition : The breakdown of organic matter into simpler substances by physical, chemical, and biological processes. Decomposers transform detritus, releasing nutrients and carbon compounds.
Organic matter : Material composed chiefly of carbon-based compounds produced by living organisms or their remains. Detritus is the dead, biologically derived portion of organic matter.
Detrital food web : A food web in which dead organic material is the principal energy source at its base. This food-web structure begins with detritus rather than living plants.
Grazing food web : A food web that begins with living primary producers consumed by herbivores. Unlike detrital food webs, this pathway starts with living plant or algal tissue.
Carbon cycle : The movement of carbon among the atmosphere, oceans, land, and living organisms. Detritus stores organic carbon temporarily and releases it through decomposition.
Detritivore : An animal that eats dead organic matter and often fragments it during digestion. Detritivores consume detritus directly, making it more accessible to microbes.
Litter (ecology) : Dead plant material lying on the ground or at the surface of water. Leaf litter is a familiar terrestrial form of detritus.
Leaf litter decomposition : The breakdown of fallen leaves by soil organisms and environmental processes. Its rate helps determine nutrient supply and soil carbon storage.
Primary production : The formation of organic matter from inorganic carbon by autotrophs. Primary production creates biomass; detritus consists of organic matter after it dies or is discarded.
Soil carbon : Carbon held in soil as organic compounds, inorganic compounds, and living biomass. Detrital inputs are a major source of soil organic carbon.
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