heterotroph

English

Etymology

From hetero- (“other”) +‎ -troph (“nutrition”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛt(ə)ɹə(ʊ)tɹəʊf/, /hɛt(ə)ɹə(ʊ)ˈtɹɒf/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛɾəɹəˌtɹoʊf/, /-ˌtɹɒf/

Noun

heterotroph (plural heterotrophs)

1. (ecology) An organism which requires an external supply of energy and nutrients under the form of food containing organic carbon as it cannot synthesize its own.
   • 2009, Christian Wirth, Gerd Gleixner, Martin Heimann, Old-Growth Forests: Function, Fate and Value, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 159:

     Woody detritus is an important component of forested ecosystems. It can reduce erosion and affects soil development, stores nutrients and water, provides a major source of energy and nutrients, and serves as a seedbed for plants and as a major habitat for decomposers and heterotrophs.

   • 2013 March, Harold J. Morowitz, “The Smallest Cell”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 4 January 2017, page 83:

     It is likely that the long evolutionary trajectory of Mycoplasma went from a reductive autotroph to oxidative heterotroph to a cell-wall–defective degenerate parasite. This evolutionary trajectory assumes the simplicity to complexity route of biogenesis, a point of view that is not universally accepted.

Synonyms

• consumer (biology)

Coordinate terms

• autotroph

Derived terms

• chemoheterotroph
• heterotrophic
• heterotrophy
• lithoheterotroph
• microheterotroph
• myco-heterotroph
• organoheterotroph
• photoheterotroph

 

Translations

organism

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (Taiwan) 異營生物／异营生物 (yìyíng shēngwù), (Mainland China) 異養生物／异养生物 (yìyǎng shēngwù)

• Finnish: heterotrofi (fi), toisenvarainen, kuluttaja (fi)
• French: hétérotrophe (fr) m
• Indonesian: heterotrof (id)
• Irish: heitreatrófach m
• Italian: eterotrofo (it) m
• Japanese: 従属栄養生物 (じゅうぞくえいようせいぶつ, jūzoku eiyō seibutsu)
• Kazakh: гетеротроф (geterotrof)
• Korean: 종속영양생물(從屬營養生物) (jongsogyeong'yangsaengmul)
• Kyrgyz: гетеротроф (geterotrof)
• Romanian: heterotrof (ro) m
• Spanish: heterótrofo (es) m, nutrición heterótrofa
• Vietnamese: sinh vật dị dưỡng (生物異養)

Further reading

• heterotroph on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

heterotroph (strong nominative masculine singular heterotropher, not comparable)

1. heterotrophic

Declension

Positive forms of heterotroph (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist heterotroph	sie ist heterotroph	es ist heterotroph	sie sind heterotroph
strong declension (without article)	nominative	heterotropher	heterotrophe	heterotrophes	heterotrophe
	genitive	heterotrophen	heterotropher	heterotrophen	heterotropher
	dative	heterotrophem	heterotropher	heterotrophem	heterotrophen
	accusative	heterotrophen	heterotrophe	heterotrophes	heterotrophe
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der heterotrophe	die heterotrophe	das heterotrophe	die heterotrophen
	genitive	des heterotrophen	der heterotrophen	des heterotrophen	der heterotrophen
	dative	dem heterotrophen	der heterotrophen	dem heterotrophen	den heterotrophen
	accusative	den heterotrophen	die heterotrophe	das heterotrophe	die heterotrophen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein heterotropher	eine heterotrophe	ein heterotrophes	(keine) heterotrophen
	genitive	eines heterotrophen	einer heterotrophen	eines heterotrophen	(keiner) heterotrophen
	dative	einem heterotrophen	einer heterotrophen	einem heterotrophen	(keinen) heterotrophen
	accusative	einen heterotrophen	eine heterotrophe	ein heterotrophes	(keine) heterotrophen

Further reading

• “heterotroph” in Duden online
• “heterotroph” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache