photoautotroph

[foh-toh-aw-tuh-trof, -trohf]

noun

Biology.

1. any organism that derives its energy for food synthesis from light and is capable of using carbon dioxide as its principal source of carbon.

photoautotroph

1. See phototroph

Other Word Forms

• photoautotrophic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of photoautotroph¹

First recorded in 1945–50; photo- + autotroph

Example Sentences

Studies of cultures of —the most abundant photoautotroph in the oligotrophic oceans—show that vesicles are continually released by this cyanobacterium and are abundant in the marine environment.

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