How might detritivores speed up breakdown of materials by decomposers?
Detritivores are organisms that consume dead and decaying matter, of animal or plant origin. As the consumed substances are digested, they are broken down into simpler compounds, those that are not absorbed are excreted in faeces, but it means that the substances are now in simpler forms so decomposers don’t have to break it down much further to it’s simplest components. Plants lose water by transpiration at the leaves, out of structures called stomata that they can open and close. Closing them would retain water but stop the movement of CO2 in and O2 out, so they wouldn’t be able to photosynthesise and eventually die. To compensate they must constantly take up water to replace that lost by the leaves. They also need water to fill their cells to make them turgid, this gives plants their rigid structure and allows them to stand up. If you deprive a plant of water it will start to wilt (droop) as it hasn’t got enough water to keep the leaves and stem upright. They also use it to transpor
