Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
chemoautotrophic

chemoautotrophic

1 9.9
Organisms that make their own food using chemicals, not sunlight
  • adjective
  • /ˌkiːmoʊˌɔːtəˈtrɒfɪk/
  • Specialized
: quimioautotrófico
  • Scientists study chemoautotrophic organisms that thrive in extreme environments without sunlight.

Examples

  • The chemoautotrophic bacteria in the ocean depths derive energy from chemicals instead of sunlight.

  • Functional groups 1-5 are heterotrophic, and groups 6-9 are chemoautotrophic.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Some bacteria are chemoautotrophic, using inorganic substances to generate their own food.

Synonyms

chemosynthetic
vschemoautotrophic
  • Specialized
1 7.7

Describing living things that make food from chemicals instead of sunlight

specifies energy from oxidizing inorganic substances to produce food

Surface Forms

chemoautotrophic positive

Morphology

chemoautotrophic = autotrophic (semi-transparent) = chemo + auto + troph + ic

The word is built by adding the scientific prefix 'chemo-' to 'autotrophic', but the full term is specialized technical vocabulary rather than everyday transparent English.

Etymology

Chemoautotrophic breaks into chemo- ('chemical'), auto- ('self', as in automatic) and -trophic ('feeding' or 'making food'). So a chemoautotrophic organism 'feeds itself' using chemicals for energy, which is why such bacteria can live without sunlight.