noun
- organisms that cannot produce their own food and must obtain nutrients by consuming other organisms or organic matter
Usage: biology; plural form of heterotroph
Examples
- Animals are heterotrophs because they must eat plants or other animals to survive.
- Unlike plants, heterotrophs cannot make their own food through photosynthesis.
- Fungi are heterotrophs that decompose organic matter in the soil.
- The food chain begins with producers and includes various levels of heterotrophs.
- Bacteria can be either autotrophs or heterotrophs depending on their energy source.
- Most heterotrophs in the ocean depend on phytoplankton as their primary food source.