Detritivores are organisms that feed on the organic waste of dead plants and animals while decomposers are the organisms that decompose dead plants and animals.

Snails are detritivores. They feed on dead organisms and waste material.

Microorganisms (such as bacteria or fungi) break down detritus, and this microorganism-rich material is eaten by invertebrates, which are in turn eaten by vertebrates. Many freshwater streams have detritus rather than living plants as their energy base.

Saprotrophs. After scavengers and detritivores feed on dead organic matter, some unused energy and organic compounds still remain. The main characteristic that differentiates detritivores from saprotrophs is that saprotrophs secrete enzymes that digest dead material externally, whereas detritivores digest internally.

Detritivores and decomposers contribute to the breakdown of all of the dead and decaying material in any ecosystem. In this way they play an important role in the cycling of nutrients and are an essential part of most biogeochemical cycles, such as the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle and the phosphorus cycle.

With their thick and waxy exoskeletons, Madagascar hissing cockroaches may look like big pests, but they’re actually important to the health of the rain forest. They are detritivores, which means they eat decaying plant material and animal carcasses. Think cockroaches are nothing but gross?

Imagine what would happen if there were no decomposers. Wastes and the remains of dead organisms would pile up and the nutrients within the waste and dead organisms would not be released back into the ecosystem. Producers would not have enough nutrients. Essentially, many organisms could not exist.

An animal that feeds on detritus. Examples of detritivores are earthworms, blowflies, maggots, and woodlice. Detritivores play an important role in the breakdown of organic matter from decomposing animals and plants (see decomposer).

Typical detritivorous animals include millipedes, springtails, woodlice, dung flies, slugs, many terrestrial worms, sea stars, sea cucumbers, fiddler crabs, and some sedentary polychaetes such as worms of the family Terebellidae.

Detritivores are heterotrophs that obtain their nutrition by feeding on detritus. Heterotrophs are organisms that do not produce their own food, but must obtain it from the environment. The detritus they consume includes decomposing plant and animal parts, as well as fecal matter.

A detritivore feeds on plant and animal remains and other dead matter. Since earthworm feeds on the plant and animal remains and other dead matter, it is called a detritivore.