The mode of nutrition by which organisms prepare their own food from simple inorganic matter such as water, mineral salts, and carbon dioxide in the presence of sunlight.
Thus, autotrophic means organisms that produce their own food.
Another name for autotrophic organisms that show the autotrophic mode of nutrition is autotrophs or producers.
Example: plants, green algae, cyanobacteria.
Two types of Autotrophic Nutrition:
Photoautotrophic Nutrition:
The mode of autotrophic nutrition which takes place in the presence of sunlight is called photoautotrophic nutrition or photosynthesis.
The green plants are photoautotrophs as produce their own food is called photosynthesis.
The photosynthetic process is mainly carried out on the leaves of plants, also known as the “plant kitchen”, but in some cases, the stems of plants perform photosynthesis.
Chemoautotrophic Nutrition:
The mode of autotrophic nutrition takes place with the help of chemical energy and without the utilization of sunlight.
Many bacteria undergo the oxidation of chemical substances, whether organic or inorganic, to produce chemical energy.