What do decomposers release

After death, decomposition releases carbon into the air, soil and water. Decomposers break apart complex organic materials into more elementary substances: water and carbon dioxide, plus simple compounds containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium. The organisms that carry out the process of decay or break down of the dead organism are known as decomposers and the process of breaking down complex organic matter into its simpler form is referred to as decomposition.

Major decomposers in the ecosystem include bacteria and fungi. Decomposers and scavengers break down dead plants and animals. They also break down the waste poop of other organisms. Earthworms need moist environments to survive. If they dry out, they have trouble burrowing into the soil and they will die. Earthworms eat dead plants and animals. When they eat, they also take in soil and tiny pebbles. They take in nutrients from microorganisms in the material they ingest.

Earthworms then excrete wastes in the form of casts. Casts are rich in nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash. In addition to breaking down organic materials and adding nutrients to the soil, earthworms also help loosen the soil so air can circulate. This helps plants grow. Images CC BY 3. Back to the Beginning When plants and animals die, they become food for decomposers like bacteria, fungi and earthworms. It also adds nitrogen compounds to the air.

Eventually, the nitrogen falls back to Earth in rain, snow or dust. Nitrogen is part of many fertilizers. That is especially true in many areas near big cities and industrial areas such as where the Harvard Forest grows.

For some of those areas, 10 to 1, times as much nitrogen gets added to the soil each year compared to back in the s. The result: Soil levels of nitrogen continue to grow. Higher nitrogen levels seem to reduce the ability of microbes to make the enzymes needed to break down dead tissues. As a result, plant litter on the forest floor will get recycled more slowly. Pine trees in one test area of the Harvard Forest actually died from too much added nitrogen.

Pringle, at Harvard, agrees. Too much nitrogen slows decomposition in the short term, she says. Another open question: How will fungal communities change? In many areas, fungi break down most of the lignin in the woody parts of plants. The science of rot matters as much for transportation as it does for trees. In fact, rot is key to better biofuels.

Today, the big biofuel is ethanol, also known as grain alcohol. Ethanol is generally made from sugars derived from corn, cane sugar and other plants. It could help them make biofuels less expensively.

And they want to use far more than corn stalks as their plant sources. They also want to streamline the process to make their biofuels. Those goals have led scientists on a hunt for bacteria that are up to the task of breaking down plant material quickly and reliably.

Scientists discovered this bacterium living near the Quabbin Reservoir, east of Amherst, Mass. In a one-step process, this microbe can break down hemicellulose and cellulose into ethanol.

That would also speed its ability to break down plant materials. Meanwhile, with funds from the U. Department of Energy, DeAngelis and other scientists have been hunting for lignin-busting bacteria. Breaking down lignin could open up the use of woodier plants for biofuels.

It also could let factories turn other types of plants into biofuels, while producing fewer wastes. Decomposition is the process by which bacteria and fungi break dead organisms into their simple compounds. Plants can absorb and use these compounds again, completing the cycle. Decomposing bacteria and fungi are described as saprophytic because of the way they break down dead organic matter.