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Decomposer vs Saprophyte
I must agree this queston confused me thoroughly, but I believe that the definitions must give the true answers.
Saprophytes are organisms that feed on dead organic matter in the soil. Decomposers are organisms that breakdown, complex organic matter into simpler mineral components. Now although a number of books list saprophtyes as a type of decomposers also, there is a suttle difference. To understand, exaine this.an elephant dies, a huge mass of organic matter, very complex.now, if bacteria begin to decompose it, they break it down immediately to ver simpler components, but then suppose fungi start growing on it, they too do the same, but now if they start growing fruiting structures, they recompose the simpler substances derived into more complex ones, but much less complex than the animal proteins in the elephant.besdies the fruiting strucures of the fungi decompose after death much faster, thereby making the entire decomposition of the elephant faster.in a sense, saprophytes can be said to make decomposition faster, plants like monatropa and wulshelegalia that are saprophytes in the soil, may seem to perfro the opposite function, but for all theoretical generalisations we say that saprophytes are also decomposers, and een though they are considered a separate niche in the ecosystem, they are merely in the path to decomposition
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