DETRITUS

Detritus

In biology, detritus is non-living particulate organic material . It typically includes the bodies or fragments of dead organisms as well as fecal material. Detritus is typically colonized by communities of microorganisms which act to decompose the material. In terrestrial ecosystems, it is encountered as leaf litter and other organic matter intermixed with soil, which is referred to as humus. Detritus of aquatic ecosystems is organic material suspended in water and piles up on seabed floors which is referred to as marine snow.

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detritus

Noun

  1. pieces of rock broken off by ice, glacier, or erosion.
  2. Organic waste material from decomposing dead plants or animals.
  3. debris or fragments of disintegrated material
    2001. "But of course: no clutter. No newspapers, no renegade scraps of domestic detritus, no rubber bands, paper clips, coupons, pens or pencils, notebooks, magazines. No knives. Where were the knives?" — Chip Kidd. The Cheese Monkeys


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: detritus
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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