Overview of Heterotrophic Nutrition
Heterotrophic nutrition varies among organisms based on
their specific adaptations to the environment. The method of obtaining
nutrition is primarily determined by:
- Type
of food material
- Availability
of food
- Method
of acquisition (how the organism accesses food)
Factors Influencing Nutritive Apparatus
The digestive system or "nutritive apparatus" of
an organism evolves based on the nature of its food source.
|
Food Source Nature |
Example |
Organism |
Implication |
|
Stationary |
Grass |
Cow |
Requires specific apparatus to access/digest stationary
plants. |
|
Mobile |
Deer |
Lion |
Requires different apparatus for hunting and consuming
moving prey. |
Strategies of Food Intake and Digestion
Organisms utilize different strategies to break down and
absorb nutrients:
1. External Digestion (Saprophytic Nutrition)
- Mechanism:
The organism breaks down food material outside the body and then
absorbs the nutrients.
- Examples:
Fungi such as:
- Bread
moulds
- Yeast
- Mushrooms
2. Internal Digestion (Holozoic Nutrition)
- Mechanism:
The organism takes in (ingests) whole material and breaks it down inside
the body.
- Dependencies:
The specific type of food taken in depends on the organism's body design
and functioning.
3. Parasitic Nutrition
- Mechanism:
The organism derives nutrition from other plants or animals (hosts) without
killing them.
- Examples:
- Plants:
Cuscuta (Amar-bel)
- Insects/Arachnids:
Ticks, Lice
- Worms:
Leeches, Tape-worms
MCQs: Overview of Heterotrophic Nutrition
1. Heterotrophic nutrition mainly depends on
- A. Size of the organism
- B. Type, availability, and method of acquiring food
- C. Habitat only
- D. Presence of chlorophyll
2. The nutritive apparatus of an organism is influenced by
- A. Climate
- B. Nature of the food source
- C. Age of the organism
- D. Population size
- A. Lion lives in forests
- B. Cow is domesticated
- C. Lion feeds on mobile prey while cow feeds on stationary plants
- D. Cow eats more food
- A. Internal digestion
- B. External digestion followed by absorption
- C. Feeding on living host
- D. Ingestion of whole food
- A. Absorption of dissolved food
- B. External digestion
- C. Ingestion and internal digestion of food
- D. Feeding without killing host
- A. Saprophytic nutrition — Lion
- B. Parasitic nutrition — Mushroom
- C. Parasitic nutrition — Cuscuta
- D. Holozoic nutrition — Yeast