Question

So far in this course, we have seen decomposers that are from the fungi kingdom and decomposers from the animal kingdom (termites, pill bugs). Despite sharing the same mode of nutrition, these organisms are extremely different.
What is the key difference in the energy tradeoff in how fungi and animals decompose material? How does the body plan of each support this? (2 points)
If both types of organisms are in the same environment competing (i.e. on a log), which do you think would be more successful? Provide an explanation supporting your choice.

Answer 1

Answer:

Explanation:

What is the key difference in the energy tradeoff in how fungi and animals descompose material? How does the body plan of each support this?

The fungi kingdom is in charge of material descomposition, their mechanisms for doing this is by their toxins, which are the substances that they produce that descompose the material. On the other hand, the descomponers from the animal kingdom (termites, pill bugs) have a digestive system in which they use their body enzymes to descompose organic materials. Those are their different descomposition materials.

If both types of organisms are in the same environment competing, which do you think would be more successful?

I think that the fungi kingdom would be more successful if is competing for nutrients against the animal kingdom. This is because the fungi kingdom doesn´t need too much time to appear and act, they only need a little quantity of humidity on the environment, and once they appear, they start acting really quickly.

For example, if I leave a piece of cheese on the fridge and is not at the correct temperature, it is more likely for a fungus to appear and descompose the cheese than an animal to appear because the fridge would be completely closed.