Chemotroph

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Photosynthetic vs. Chemosynthetic food chains

Chemotrophs (or lithotrophs) are the organisms that gain the energy by consuming the organic molecules or carbon in an organic form. [1]

Explaining the chemotrophs further, the chemotrophic organisms gain the energy by the oxidation of various molecules. (Chemo means chemical and troph means nutrition in Greek). They can occupy either autotrophic or the heterotrophic levels. [2]

1 Chemoautotroph
2 Chemoheterotroph
3 Related References
4 See Also

Chemoautotroph

Chemoautotrophic (or chemolithotrophic) organisms gain the energy from the chemical reactions by synthesizing the chemical compounds. They use only inorganic energy sources, while the chemoheterotrophic organisms use the organic sources. [3]

The chemoautotrophic organisms use photosynthetic cycle or other pathways to fix carbon dioxide. Some organisms oxidize ammonia or nitrite ions to nitrate ions, and some oxidize hydrogen gas, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfur. Most archaea are the chemoautotrophs. Chemoautotrophic prokaryotes are base ecosystem in deep sea. (Purves, 530)

Chemoheterotroph

Chemoheterotrophic organisms must get organic building blocks, because they cannot produce those by themselves. They gain the energy from the organic molecules. [4] Most archaea, bacteria, animals, and fungi are the examples of he chemoheterotrophs. (Purves, 530)