Question

Why are fungi important decomposers?

Answer 1

Fungi are recyclers of organic and inorganic compounds, they can do this by the decomposition process. They are able to do this because they are absorotropic heterotrophs, that is, their way of obtaining food is releasing extracellular enzymes to the environment where they grow, which perform a partial digestion of the substrate, so that the products of this digestion can be absorbed by the fungus to be used in different metabolic processes. This characteristic makes fungi have a fundamental role in the carbon cycle, since part of the products of this digestion remain in the soil and can be reused by plants to obtain nutrients and thus resume the cycle.