Detritivores and saphrophytes:-

Detritivores feed on dead and decaying material. Examples of detritivores include earthworms, maggots and woodlice. As these detritivores feed on the decaying material, they break it up into smaller bits.This gives a bigger surface area for smaller decomposers to work on and so speeds up decay.
Saprophytes also feed on decaying material, but they do so by extracellular digestion - i.e. they feed by secreting digestive enzymes on to the material outside of their cells. The enzymes break down the material into smaller bits, which can then be absorbed by the saprophyte. Many saprophytes are fungi.

	Created by eibhlinjones200 over 11 years ago

GCSE Science (Biology) Note on Decay, created by eibhlinjones200 on 29/05/2013.