autotrophs are living beings that produce their own food, that is, they are capable of synthesizing organic compounds from inorganic compounds through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.
The word "autotroph" comes from the Greek terms records = own and trophs = food.
Plants, algae and some bacteria are autotrophic organisms. These beings form the basis of a food chain and serve as food for other living beings that are not capable of producing their own food (heterotrophs).
In a food chain, autotrophic beings are generally called producers, while organisms heterotrophs they can play the role of consumers or decomposers.
Autotrophs and Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, autotrophic organisms, synthesize their own food, forming glucose molecules that will later be used to build and maintain their activities cell phones.
Photosynthesis is a chemical phenomenon in which light energy is transformed into chemical energy through a series of complex chemical reactions.
The word photosynthesis means to compose substances from light, where "photo" = light and "synthesis" = synthesize. It can be represented by the following chemical equation:
Other autotrophic beings that do not carry out photosynthesis extract energy from inorganic chemical reactions, in a process called chemosynthesis.
Read more about eukaryotic cell.
