Question

How do saprobes and parasites differ?

Answer 1

Saprobes are decomposers and the parasite lives and depends on the host organism and the nutrition of parasites also depends on the host organism.

Complete answer:
1)The main difference that exists between the parasite and saprobe is that the saprobe depends on dead organisms for their nutrition but the parasites depend on a host that are living organisms for their nutrition.
2)Saprobes are also known as saprophytes and they decompose the dead organisms. The digestive enzymes present in saprobes are very essential for decomposing the dead organism. The decomposed dead organism is consumed by the saprobes for their nutrition.
3)Not only dead organisms but saprophytes also feed on waste materials like litter, leaves, etc.
4)Since the parasite depends on the host organism for nutrition, it makes the host organism very weak and harms the host organism. The parasites are not diseased itself but they act as a carrier for many diseases such as malaria, amoebic dysentery, etc.
5)Examples of parasites include protozoans, hookworms, ringworm, mistletoe, honey fungus, etc and examples of saprobes are mucor, bracket fungi, etc.

Note: Parasites are of two types, that are ectoparasites and endoparasites. The endoparasites live inside the host but the ectoparasite lives outside the host. Ectoparasites can be a holoparasite or a hemiparasite but endoparasites are only holoparasites. Examples of ectoparasite are leech, mosquito, louse, etc and examples of endoparasite are tapeworms, protozoans, etc.