por The decomposing animals They are considered organisms in charge of taking advantage of the waste of other living beings. These animals are found both inside living beings, recycling the carbon dioxide that the plants will later use for photosynthesis, and inside, consuming all the matter and energy that the rest of those living beings can expel. .
Thus, they take advantage of the waste of other living beings, creating a balance in the environment. The process begins when some animal or plant dies. Little by little, different decomposing animals appear and are born, which consume what remains of organic or living matter, to later convert it into inorganic matter.
Decomposing animals, contrary to what most may think, are an important element in the food chain, since they are the ones who end the cycle, and in turn, start a new cycle.
These organisms, the decomposers, perform all the functions contrary to those of producer animals, and yet they complement each other.
The decomposing animals have the function of releasing different products, which are then used by the producing animals, helping them to replace any inorganic mass, turning it organic.
Around us and on a daily basis, we can observe different decomposing animals, often without being aware that this is their nature and that they are classified that way.
Decomposing animals are divided into four groups: insects, bacteria, fungi, and scavengers.
Examples of decomposing animals
the blowflies
They feed on dead animals, turn fecal matter into organic matter and are also part of the food chain, since they serve as food for other animals, such as birds and rodents.
Spiders
They are one of the most important decomposing animals, since they are the ones who consume the most insects, helping to regulate their number in nature.
The beetles
Depending on the species, they can feed on leaves, fruits, flowers, seeds, other insects, roots, food is decomposition, fungi, among others.
The mosquitos
Most of these insects spend their entire lives without disturbing humans, feeding on fruits and plants.
vultures
Depending on the species, their diet varies. Some feed on entrails and meat, others survive on bones and corpses.
ravens
They devour food waste left by humans and the feces of different kinds of animals.
green flies
They feed on the feces of canines, food, animals and decaying plants.
wasps
They do not only feed on the nectar of flowers. In their initial stage they consume larvae and throughout their lives they can catch different insects, fallen fruits and carrion.
Ants
They serve as food for many animals. For example, there are a series of fungi that are responsible for infecting ants until they die.
Afterwards, the fungus reproduces in its corpse, until a sporocarp (another kind of fungus) is born. On the other hand, different birds confuse the red body of some ants with fruits and eat them.
In another function, ants also carry fecal matter from some birds to other animals for consumption.
lions
As decomposers, they are classified as scavengers, that is, they feed on carcasses and waste.
water mold
They consume all the flora that is in a state of decomposition.
azotobacter bacterium
They feed on the roots of some plants.
pseudomonas bacteria
This type of bacteria is responsible for the consumption of flowers and animals that have died and are in a state of decomposition.
Classification of decomposing animals
Of the decomposing animals mentioned above, the first four belong to the group of insects. These are active participants in the different phases of decomposition of any organism, their main objective is to place their young everywhere.
On the other hand, from vultures to ants they are innate scavengers. These animals do not contribute any type of organic matter to the environment, they simply feed on the bodies of dead animals, somehow purifying nature. Also, they are not part of the food chain.
However, there are some mammals that when they are in dire need, become scavengers, this is the case of lions and hyenas.
Water mold and parasites are part of the fungi, which help in the decomposition process of fecal matter and various withered and fallen flowers. In this classification we can also find saprobes and mutualists.
The last two animals on the list belong –as their name indicates– to the group of bacteria. These are found throughout the environment, from water, air and soil, even inside different living beings, they are in charge of decomposing all the matter that gradually dies and discarding carbon dioxide, turning it into carbon dioxide. nutrients.
The azotobacter bacterium is found in the roots of different food plants and pseudomonas bacteria and others, such as achromobacter and actinobacter, are important and vital, since they are guarantors of all the decomposition of the varied fauna and flora that have died.
Thanks to the purifying action carried out by these animals, they are positioned with a high level of importance in the food chain.
And although as human beings, we may think that they are unpleasant, they maintain a balance in our ecosystem, and with multiple actions, they are in charge of nourishing the plants and discarding everything that is no longer useful.
A world without decomposing animals would be a planet and a nature full of insects, corpses and waste that by itself could not degrade, bringing a lot of diseases to both humans and animals.
References
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