Scavenger vs. Decomposer

Scavengernoun

Someone who scavenges, especially one who searches through rubbish for food or useful things.

Scavengernoun

An animal that feeds on decaying matter such as carrion.

Scavengernoun

A street sweeper.

Scavengernoun

A child employed to pick up loose cotton from the floor in a cotton mill.

Scavengernoun

(chemistry) A substance used to remove impurities from the air or from a solution.

Scavengerverb

(archaic) To scavenge.

Scavengerverb

(archaic) To clean the rubbish from a street, etc.

Scavengernoun

A person whose employment is to clean the streets of a city, by scraping or sweeping, and carrying off the filth. The name is also applied to any animal which devours refuse, carrion, or anything injurious to health.

Scavengernoun

a chemical agent that is added to a chemical mixture to counteract the effects of impurities

Scavengernoun

someone who collects things that have been discarded by others

Scavengernoun

any animal that feeds on refuse and other decaying organic matter

Scavenger

Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a herbivorous feeding behavior.

Decomposernoun

(ecology) Any organism that feeds off decomposing organic material, especially such a bacterium or fungus

Decomposer

Decomposers are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms; they carry out decomposition, a process possible by only certain kingdoms, such as fungi. Like herbivores and predators, decomposers are heterotrophic, meaning that they use organic substrates to get their energy, carbon and nutrients for growth and development.