Primary nutritional groups

Primary nutritional groups are groups of organisms, divided according to the sources of energy, electrons, and carbon needed for living, growth, and reproduction. The sources of energy can be light or chemical compounds, the source of electrons can be organic or inorganic, and the sources of carbon can also be of organic or inorganic origin..

The terms aerobic respiration, anaerobic respiration, and fermentation (substrate-level phosphorylation) do not refer to primary nutritional groups, but simply reflect the different use of possible electron acceptors in particular organisms, such as O2 in aerobic respiration, nitrate (NO−
3) or sulfate (SO2−
4) in anaerobic respiration, or various metabolic intermediates in fermentation.

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