What does the Autotrophic Mode of Nutrition Require

Answer: Autotrophic are organisms that use CO₂, H₂0 and Sunlight to produce their own food. Balance in nature is maintained by the interaction of all living beings such as plants, animals, and microorganisms with each other and their physical environment. Each ecosystem inherently contains a food chain that helps in achieving this natural balance. However, not all organisms rely on other organisms for their nutritional requirements, since some organisms can create their own food. Such organisms are called autotrophs.

‘Autotroph’ is derived from the two Greek words ‘auto’, meaning self, and ‘trophe’, meaning nutrition. Autotrophs are organisms that can use inorganic ingredients to produce their own food. These inorganic sources include carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight. Plants are a prime example of autotrophic organisms, and they do so by the process of photosynthesis. However, not all plants are autotrophs. All green plants are autotrophic in the nutritional requirements because they contain chlorophyll, the pigment which gives them their green color while also providing the means to utilize sunlight along with carbon dioxide to make food.

Plants aren’t the only autotrophs. Some bacteria and algae also make their own food through two kinds of autotrophy: photosynthesis and chemosynthesis. Photosynthetic microorganisms have pigments present in their cytoplasm to help utilize sunlight like plants do. Chemosynthetic microorganisms do not have such pigments that use sunlight, but rather use chemical energy to make food. This chemical energy is derived from the oxidation of chemical compounds.

Thus, photosynthetic autotrophic nutrition is greatly dependent on three main prerequisites: sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water. Additionally, these photosynthetic organisms must also have pigments present in their cytoplasm without which their form of auto tropism would not be possible. On the other hand, chemosynthetic organisms require inorganic and organic chemicals like sulphur, nitrogen, and phosphorus to generate the energy required to synthesize their food. This then allows the heterotrophs to consume autotrophs and generate their own energy.