Nutrition function: What is and processes

The Nutrition function in living beings It is different depending on whether the body is animal or vegetable. Animals are organisms that have heterotrophic nutritionThis means that organisms are not able to generate their own food, but depend on other energy sources that provide the organic carbon necessary for life. These carbon sources can be animals or plants. To incorporate these nutrients, animals have a digestive system that transforms matter into simpler substances that can capture cells. On the other hand, if the body is complex, an apparatus that is responsible for transporting nutrients to the different parts that compose it is also necessary, this is done by the circulatory system. In addition, to use nutrients, animal cells need oxygen from abroad, which provides them with the necessary energy to occur necessary cellular processes in nutrition, therefore, they also have the intervention of a respiratory system. In the subsequent sections, the organs and devices involved in the animal nutrition function are explained with more detail.

In this other post you can read more about heterotrophic organisms: what are, characteristics and examples.

On the contrary to heterotroph nutrition seen in the previous section, Plants have autotrophic nutrition. This implies that they are able to set inorganic carbon for manufacture your own food turning it into organic carbon, through photosynthesis. Although plants are able to manufacture their own nutrients, they also need external factors that intervene in the nutrition function, such as sunlight, water, mineral salts and CO2. To perform the nutrition function in plants, organs such as root, stem and leaves intervene. These help capture the main elements essential for the survival of vegetables, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Learn more about autotrophic organisms: what are, characteristics and examples reading this other article.

Again, we can talk about the processes of this function, on the one hand, in animals and, on the other hand, in plants.

Nutrition function processes in animals

In the Animal Nutrition The processes described below can be considered.

1. Food ingestion: In this process food is incorporated through the organs located in the oral cavity. Depending on the type of food that the animal ingested, the structures of the mouth will be specialized according to its characteristics, for example, if the body feeds on microscopic particles, the structure present in the oral cavity will be filters, through which these particles will retain.
2. Digestion: It is the process by which macromolecules ingested at the beginning, are transformed into simpler molecules so that they can be assimilated by the body’s cells. There are also different types of digestion: intracellular digestion (typical of unicellular organisms), extracellular digestion (present in higher organisms) and mixed digestion (combining intracellular and extracellular, present in metazoos).
3. Food transport to cells: When food transformation has already occurred into assimilable substances, they have to be transported throughout the body to reach each of the cells. It is done through the circulatory system.
4. Cell metabolism: It is a process that occurs within the cell and consists in the transformation of nutrients into energy or more complex molecules.
5. Excretion: Finally, those substances that have not been assimilated are expelled as residues abroad.

Nutrition function processes in plants

The processes that are carried out during the Nutrition in plants They are very different from those of animals, since, as explained in the previous section, they are autotrophic organisms that manufacture their own food.

1. First, they drink water and soil minerals through the absorbent hairs of the root and the CO2 by the stomata of the leaves. Next, the mixture formed by water and salts form the gross sap that rises through the stem.
2. In the leaves, photosynthesis occurs, where thanks to the sunlight captured by chlorophyll, gross sap and CO2 are transformed into elaborate sap, which serves as food for plants. In this process, oxygen is also produced and released to the atmosphere.
3. Finally, the elaborate sap that has been formed in the leaves must be distributed throughout the organism through tubes, different from those used by the gross sap that rises from the root and in the opposite direction in the first stage. In this way, nutrients reach all parts of the plant, very important for those where no photosynthesis occurs, such as the stem.

Here you can read more about the plant nutrition process.

In animals, depending on whether they are vertebrates or invertebrates, there are a wide variety of types of structures involved in the nutrition function. To carry out the function of nutrition, in the case of the human body, different devices are involved: the digestive system, respiratory system, circulatory system, the lymphatic system and the excretory apparatus. Next, the main ones are described Characteristics of the participating devicesas well as What organs perform the nutrition function.

Digestive system

In charge of digestion, in vertebrates, it is characterized by a hollow tube and is organized in three areas in which different organs intervene. The first area is cephalic, where oral cavity and pharynx are located, through communication with the respiratory system. The second of the areas, that of the trunk, is composed of the esophagus, the stomach and the small and coarse intestine. Additionally, there are two glands involved in the digestive system secreting its content to the small intestine through the same duct.

Respiratory system

It is the one that deals with contributing oxygen and eliminating the CO2 generated in the different metabolic processes. It consists of ducts such as the pharynx, trachea, main bronchi, bronchioli and alveolar lagoons through which the air flows.

Circulatory system

Its function is to boost blood throughout the body and thus, oxygen and nutrients arrive at all the cells that form it. The heart, arteries, veins, capillaries and vénulas are the structures through which blood circulates in the circulatory system.

Lymphatic system

Very close to the circulatory system, the lymphatic system is where lymph circulates, a liquid formed mostly by white blood cells and its function is, mainly, transporting protein substances to the blood. It is made up of lymphatic nodules, lymph nodes, thymus and spleen.

Excretory apparatus

It is responsible for the elimination of substances that cannot be assimilated by the other devices. The urinary tract is the main excretory system in animals, formed by the kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra, where the blood is filtered, being able to capture the blood useful molecules again.

Now that you have learned all this about nutrition, which is one of the vital functions that we have living beings, we encourage you to learn more about these reading these other articles of Ecology Verde:

• Vital functions of living beings.
• Relationship function: What is, phases and examples.
• Reproduction function: what is and why it is important.

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