What is the role of decomposers in an ecosystem?

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Decomposers break down dead plants and animals and recycle the nutrients they contain back into the environment. This recycling makes essential elements like nitrogen and phosphorus available again for producers to use to grow. By turning complex organic matter into simpler nutrients, decomposers keep the nutrient cycle moving and soil healthy, supporting the whole ecosystem. They don’t create energy from sunlight—that role belongs to producers like plants and algae—and they aren’t the organisms that actively eat living organisms; their specialty is transforming dead matter into usable nutrients. Examples include fungi and many bacteria.