trapped nutrients in the plant tissues. An abundance of detritivores in the soil allow the ecosystem to efficiently recycle nutrients. Detritivore feeding behaviour is affected by rainfall; moist soil increases detritivore feeding and excretion. Many detritivores live in mature woodland, though the term can be applied to certain bottom-feeders in wet environments. These organisms play a crucial role in benthic ecosystems, forming essential food chains and participating in the nitrogen cycle. Detritivores and decomposers that reside in the desert live in burrows underground to avoid the hot surface since underground conditions provide favorable living conditions for them. Detritivores are the main organisms in clearing plant litter and recycling nutrients in the desert. Due to the limited vegetation available in the desert, desert detritivores adapted and evolved ways to feed in the extreme conditions of the desert. Fungi, acting as decomposers, are important in today's terrestrial environment. During the Carboniferous period, fungi and bacteria had yet to evolve the capacity to digest lignin, and so large deposits of dead plant tissue accumulated during this period, later becoming the fossil fuels. By feeding on sediments directly to extract the organic component, some detritivores incidentally concentrate toxic pollutants. See also Decomposer Saprotrophic nutrition Nepenthes ampullaria Consumer-resource systems References Eating behaviors Microbial growth and nutrition Mycology Soil biology Animals by eating behaviors