Parasite vs. Saprophyte
Main DifferenceThe main difference between parasite and saprophyte is that parasite lives on another organism whereas saprophyte is an organism that uses decomposing matter as a food source.
Difference Between Parasite and Saprophyte
Parasite vs. Saprophyte
Parasites are eukaryotic organism whereas saprophytes can be both eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms.
Parasite vs. Saprophyte
Parasites are specialized to parasite on specific organism or hosts whereas saprophytes are not strictly specialized on specific hosts, they can feed on a variety of matter.
Parasite vs. Saprophyte
Parasites get their food from the hosts when they are alive whereas saprophytes get their food from the organisms when they are dead.
Parasite vs. Saprophyte
Parasites show intracellular digestion whereas saprophytes show extracellular digestion.
Parasite vs. Saprophyte
Some parasites develop haustoria to absorb nutrients from the host whereas saprophytes secrete enzymes and degrade organic matter for absorption.
Parasite vs. Saprophyte
Parasites prove very harmful and dangerous for the hosts whereas saprophytes do not show any harm for living organisms.
Parasitenoun
(pejorative) A person who lives on other people's efforts or expense and gives little or nothing back.
Saprophytenoun
any organism that lives on dead organic matter, as certain fungi and bacteria
Parasitenoun
(pejorative) A sycophant or hanger-on.
Saprophytenoun
an organism that feeds on dead organic matter especially a fungus or bacterium
Parasitenoun
(biology) An organism that lives on or in another organism, deriving benefit from living on or in that other organism, while not contributing towards that other organism sufficiently to cover the cost to that other organism.
Lice, fleas, ticks and mites are widely spread parasites.Parasitenoun
A climbing plant which is supported by a wall, trellis etc.
Parasitenoun
an animal or plant that lives in or on a host (another animal or plant); the parasite obtains nourishment from the host without benefiting or killing the host
Parasitenoun
a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage
Comparison Chart
| Parasite | Saprophyte |
| The parasite is an organism that lives on or into another organism (host) temporarily or permanently and also using it as a source of food. | Saprophyte is an organism which feeds on the decomposing matter of dead organisms. |
| Organization | |
| Eukaryotic organism | Both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organism |
| Specialization | |
| Specialized to parasite on specific hosts | Not strictly specialized |
| Food Source | |
| Alive host | Decomposing matter of the dead organism |
| Impact | |
| Harmful for the hosts, sometimes cause death | Not dangerous for living organisms, beneficial for the environment |
| Type of Digestion | |
| Intracellular digestion | Extracellular digestion |
| Examples | |
| Wasps, Plasmodium, Calcutta, etc | Bacteria, certain fungi, plants and animals |
Parasite vs. Saprophyte
The parasite is an organism which depends on other organisms for its nourishment and growth, and that organism is called the host. Saprophyte is an organism which depends on the dead or decaying matter for its food and growth. Parasites use intracellular digestion to get energy. Intracellular metabolism involves both phagocytosis and autophagy. Saprophytes use an extracellular type of digestion. In this process, digestive substances are secreted on the surrounding to break down the organic matter into pure substances, and then degraded substances are absorbed back. Parasites show different relations with their hosts. Sometimes they cause harm to the hosts and even prove lethal for hosts, and sometimes it takes nutrition from the host and gives benefit in return; this type of relation is called a symbiotic relationship. Saprophytes depend only on the dead matter, or decomposing matter so causes no harm. Saprophytes are very beneficial to the ecosystems in the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, hydrogen and minerals cycles.
What is Parasite?
Parasites vary widely in size and types. Almost 70% of the parasites cannot be seen with naked eyes, for example, malarial parasite, but some worm parasites can reach up to 30 meters in length. The parasite is not a disease itself, but it can spread diseases in hosts. Different parasites have different effects. Unlike predators, parasites do not kill the hosts directly or do not kill it at all. But there is a form of parasitism in which the parasite directly kills its host. This type is called parasitoids. Its example is some species of wasps parasitizing on spiders. This type of relationship is a transient between parasitism and predation. Depending on the relationship between the parasite and its host concerning time and space, parasitism can be of different types. Obligate parasites live at least in one stage while facultative parasites are the free type of organisms, but they find suitable hosts, they switch to the parasitic life. Ectoparasite lives on the surface of its host; skin, feathers, fur or grills whereas endoparasites live inside the host’s body; tissues, cells or body cavity. Some parasites are the ectoparasites at a particular stage of life and then become endoparasites. Temporary parasites spend their lives outside the host but become attached to the host when they need to feed while permanent parasites spend their entire lives within the host’s body. Most of the parasites are specialized to parasites at specific hosts. The obligatory parasites are more specialized than the facultative parasites. In hyperparasitism, parasites are also hosts.
What is Saprophyte?
Saprophytes generally refer to the plants. It can also point to a specific type of orchids and a family of flowering plants called monotropic. Monotropes do not use photosynthesis to make nutrition. Instead, they extract nutrients from dead organic matter. Saprophytic organisms play a significant role in the ecosystem and the circulation of substances in the biosphere. Saprophytes process organic materials from both heterotrophic and heterotrophic microorganisms. This is because of the saprophytic relationship that the ground is not covered with dead organic matter. Some groups of saprophytes decompose complex organic substances to simple substances. For example, proteins are broken down into pure amino acids by breaking the peptide bonds; lipids are broken down into glycerol, and fatty acids by lipase and starch are broken down into simple disaccharides by amylases. Some groups of saprophytes process simple organic substances to inorganic substances. All varieties of the saprophytic organism convert the organic substances formed by autotrophic and consume by the heterotrophic organism into inorganic ones. For any saprophytic nutrition, there are some optimum conditions that must be available; the presence of water, oxygen, neutral or acidic pH and low-medium temperature 1 to 30°C. 80 to 90% of the Fungi are made up of water mass, so they require water content available for nutrition. Similarly, very few saprophytes can survive in anaerobic conditions.
ConclusionFrom the above discussion, it has concluded that parasites are most dangerous for other organisms while saprophytes are beneficial for the ecosystem.
