Definition: consumers specializing in labile organic matter, which is easily metabolized; usually low molecular weight compounds, eg: simple sugars or proteins. For instance, metabolic scaling puts intense selective pressure on small organisms to ingest foods rich in labile organic matter; the residence time in a very short gut is too brief for enzymatic hydrolysis, so they specialize in rapidly metabolizable compounds.
Definition: consumers specializing in labile organic matter, which is easily metabolized; usually low molecular weight compounds, eg: simple sugars or proteins. For instance, metabolic scaling puts intense selective pressure on small organisms to ingest foods rich in labile organic matter; the residence time in a very short gut is too brief for enzymatic hydrolysis, so they specialize in rapidly metabolizable compounds.
Definition: An organism that feeds on mud or sand and shows little discrimination in the size or type of particles eaten. The sediment is ingested and any digestible organic material is assimilated as it passes through the alimentary canal.
