Autotrophic and Heterotrophic Nutrition: Introduction, Types of Autotrophic Nutrition

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Introduction to Autotrophic Nutrition

Autotrophic means self-nutrition.
This is a process in which an organism prepares its own food from simple inorganic material like water, mineral salts, and carbon dioxide in the presence of sunlight.
Some examples of autotrophic nutrition are blue-green algae and cyanobacteria.
Food or source of energy is synthesized using the energy from the sunlight.
Chlorophyll a green pigment is essential as it entraps the energy from sunlight.
This mode of nutrition is shown by all green plants and bacteria.

This is the process by which plants prepare their own food in the presence of sunlight.
This process mostly occurs in the leaves of the plants.
The solar energy is transformed into chemical energy to produce starch.
This process helps plants produce glucose to be able to produce energy for the transportation of water and minerals.
Factors that encourage or inhibit photosynthesis:
- Light
- Oxygen
- Temperature
- CO2
The process of photosynthesis is represented in the equation form

This is present in the lower epidermis of the leaf which uses carbon dioxide from the air.

These are responsible for absorbing minerals and water from the soil and carry it to the different parts of the plant.

Light Reaction and Dark Reaction
Light Reaction	Dark reaction
A light dependent reaction.	No light is needed.
Required to generate molecules like ATP.	No such molecules are generated.
Reaction occurs in the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplast.	Reaction occurs in stroma present in the chloroplast.