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other subjects > technology > agriculture > ecological consumers

Preferred term

ecological consumers  

Definition

  • The term ECOLOGICAL CONSUMERS refers to species that cannot produce their own food, and so get energy and nutrients by eating other organisms. Properly termed heterotrophs, they are distinguished from autotrophs, or producers, that produce their own food via photosynthesis (plants and cyanobacteria) and chemosynthesis (carried out by bacteria near deep ocean hydrothermal vents). [Source: Encyclopedia of Environment and Society; Consumers, Ecological]

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URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/ecological_consumers

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