SCAVENGERS AND DECOMPOSERS

     Without scavengers and decomposers to feed on dead material, an ecosystem such as a forest would soon be buried under piles of dead plants and animals.

Scavengers

     A type of carnivore that feeds mainly on dead animals that it finds. Scavengers often eat the leftovers from a predator’s meal. They are an important part of a food web because they keep the food energy in a dead animals’ body from being wasted.

Decomposers

     Decomposers are living things that get all their food energy from dead material. Decomposers recycle important nutrients and help keep them moving through food webs. Without them, nutrients would stay locked up in dead animals, branches, logs, and leaves. If there were no nutrients in the soil, then plants would die. Without plants, all living things would starve.

     On land, bacteria, worms, slugs, snails, mites, and fungi such as mushrooms, are example of decomposers. Bacteria, crabs, and insect larvae are examples from the water.