AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Decomposers, like fungi and bacteria, complete the food chain. Decomposers turn organic wastes, such as decaying plants, into inorganic materials, such as nutrient-rich soil. They complete the cycle of life, returning nutrients to the soil or oceans for use by autotrophs. This starts a whole new series of food chains.

Detailed explanation-2: -Decomposer: An organism, often a bacterium, fungus, or invertebrate that feeds on and breaks down dead plant or animal matter, making organic nutrients available to the ecosystem.

Detailed explanation-3: -Decomposers eat dead materials and break them down into chemical parts. Nitrogen, carbon and other nutrients can then be used again by plants and animals. Without decomposers and scavengers, the world would be covered with dead plants and animals!

Detailed explanation-4: -Decomposers are the organisms that come last in every food chain. These organisms feed on and get energy from dead or decaying plant and animal material. Things like fungi, bacteria, snails and insects.