Special Modes of Nutrition

Nutrition, broadly, is the uptake and use of nutrients by any living organism, and it falls into two main types. Autotrophic nutrition, in which an organism manufactures its own organic food, is further divided into photosynthetic and chemosynthetic nutrition. Heterotrophic nutrition, in which an organism depends on other organisms for its organic food, is further divided into saprophytic, parasitic, symbiotic and insectivorous types. While most flowering plants rely on ordinary photosynthesis and root uptake of minerals, a number of angiosperms have instead evolved one of these special, heterotrophic-leaning modes of nutrition, usually as an adaptation to a nutrient-poor or s …