Final answer:
Decomposers are organisms that recycle nutrients such as carbon and nitrogen back into the ecosystem by breaking down dead organisms and wastes, ensuring stability and nutrient availability within ecosystems.
Step-by-step explanation:
Nutrients such as carbon and nitrogen are cycled back into the ecosystem from which they come by decomposers. Decomposers, which include organisms like fungi and bacteria, play a pivotal role in the stability of ecosystems. They break down dead organisms and waste materials, thereby releasing nutrients back into the environment. These nutrients become available again to producer organisms, like plants, which uptake them to grow and thrive.
Decomposers are crucial in the energy flow and cycling of nutrients within every ecosystem. Without these organisms, the remains of dead organisms and waste products would accumulate, leading to a depletion of essential nutrients required for the growth and survival of living organisms.
Decomposers also contribute significantly to mineral nutrient recycling, a process vital for maintaining ecosystem productivity. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium are examples of nutrients that are cycled by decomposers in an ecosystem.