Heterotrophic mode of nutrition
This type of nutrition can be categorized into parasitic mode, saprophytic mode and symbiotic mode of nutrition.
Parasitic mode:
In parasitic mode of nutrition, plants depend on other live plants or animals for their nourishment. Such plants are called as parasites and the ones on which parasites depend are called as hosts.
The insectivorous mode of nutrition is observed in plants like pitcher plant and the Venus fly trap. They purely depend on other insects and small animals for their nutrition.
Cuscuta is a parasitic plant which develops special roots called haustoria. Haustoria penetrate deep into host plant tissues and just absorb the nutrients from them.
Saprophytic mode:
The plants which exhibit saprotrophic mode of nutrition are called as saprotrophs. Saprotrophs are the plants that obtain their nutrition from dead and decaying organic matter. Saprotrophs secrete digestive juices onto dead and decaying matter to dissolve it and then absorb nutrients from it.
Examples of parasitic mode of nutrition are:
1.Tapeworms are segmented flatworms that attach themselves to the insides of the intestines of animals such as cows, pigs, and humans. They get food by eating the host's partly digested food, depriving the host of nutrients.
2.Fleas harm their hosts, such as dogs, by biting their skin, sucking their blood, and causing them to itch.
3. Barnacles, which live on the bodies of whales, do not seriously harm their hosts, but they do itchi g bcoz of barnacles.
Some examples of plants having saprophytic nutrition are as follows:
Corallorhiza trifida
Dipodium punctatum
Galeola septentrionalis
Monotropa uniflora
Neottia nidus-avis
So, like I wrote above, the mode of nutrition in which an organism obtains nutrients from dead and decaying organic matter is called saprophytic nutrition. Example - Rhizopus (bread mould), Mucor (pin mould), Yeast, Agaricus (mushroom) .
