Fashioned from earth, air, and water, their life-sustaining processes kindled by the sun, plants build intricate bodies and manufacture foods to supply their every need. To such a self-sufficient lifestyle, the name autotrophic (“self nourishment”) has been given. Heterotrophic (“different nourishment”) animals, fungi, and microorganisms depend on products made by photosynthesizing plants or resort to eating other heterotrophs to obtain such nutriments in second-hand form.
