Question

Organisms that can prepare their own food are called

• A. Heterotrophs
• B. Consumers
• C. Decomposers
• D. Autotrophs

Answer 1

The correct option is D

Autotrophs

The correct option is D.

Explanation of correct option:

1. An autotroph, or main producer, is a living organism that uses carbon from simple molecules like carbon dioxide to generate complex organic compounds, usually with the help of light or inorganic chemical reactions.
2. An organism that acts as the principal producer in a food chain is referred to as an autotroph in ecology.
3. For energy and nutrients, autotrophs either use sunlight to produce food through photosynthesis (photoautotrophs) or, less frequently, use chemical energy to create food from inorganic materials (chemoautotrophs).
4. Heterotrophs do consume autotrophs, but autotrophs do not consume heterotrophs.

Explanation of incorrect option:

Option A:

1. Heterotrophs are organisms that are unable to prepare their own food from natural sources and hence rely on the food produced by other organisms (autotrophs).
2. They rely on these producers for food, whether directly or indirectly.
3. In a food chain, a group of creatures that supply energy and nutrients to other organisms, heterotrophs occupy the second and third levels.
4. Three trophic levels, which characterize an organism's function in an ecosystem, make up each food chain.

Option B:

1. Consumers are living things that get their energy through consuming (or eating) food.
2. Heterotrophs are organisms that eat a variety of foods (hetero).
3. Herbivores, which consume plants, are the main consumers.
4. Since they only ingest autotrophs, key consumers include grasshoppers, termites, insects, caterpillars, insects, insects, insects, insects, and hummingbirds (plants).

Option C:

1. Decomposers are organisms that break down dead or decaying species; they perform decomposition, which is a process that only a few kingdoms, such as fungi, can perform.
2. The ecosystem's producers or plants absorb this organic and nutritional stuff, and as a result, these vital ingredients reenter the food chain.
3. Decomposers interact with the ecosystem in this way.
4. The most crucial aspect of the soil ecology is saprophytes or decomposers because they consume dead matter, which is then broken down into vital molecular components like carbon, calcium, nitrogen, etc., and made available to plants in the soil.

Final answer: Organisms that can prepare their own food are called autotrophs.