Mixotroph

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. An organism that can gain energy both by photosynthesis and by ingesting or absorbing organic material from its environment
2. A living thing capable of combining light-driven energy capture with feeding on food sources such as bacteria or dissolved nutrients
3. Any organism, often a protist or plankton, that switches between or simultaneously uses autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition

Etymology: "Mixotroph" is built from two Greek-derived parts: "mixo-", from Greek "mixis" meaning "mixing" or "mixture", and "-troph", from Greek "trophos" meaning "feeder" or "nourisher," the same root that gives English "atrophy" and "autotroph." Put together, the word describes an organism that mixes two feeding strategies. The "-troph" element is the more revealing half. Biologists use it to sort life by how it obtains food: autotrophs make their own nourishment from light or chemicals, while heterotrophs must consume other organisms. "Mixotroph" names the awkward middle ground, where a single organism does both, photosynthesizing like a plant while also engulfing bacteria or absorbing dissolved food like an animal. Many single-celled algae and protists are examples. The compound is a modern technical coinage, formed from classical elements in the way much scientific vocabulary is, so it reflects the classification of living things rather than any ancient Greek usage of the term.