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Heterotroph vs Phototroph - What's the difference?

heterotroph | phototroph |

As nouns the difference between heterotroph and phototroph

is that heterotroph is (ecology) an organism which requires an external supply of energy in the form of food as it cannot synthesize its own while phototroph is a photoautotroph.

heterotroph

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (ecology) An organism which requires an external supply of energy in the form of food as it cannot synthesize its own.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-03
  • , author= , title=The Smallest Cell , volume=101, issue=2, page=83 , magazine= citation , passage=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.}}

    Derived terms

    * heterotrophic * organoheterotroph

    Coordinate terms

    * autotroph

    phototroph

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A photoautotroph