autotrophism en · NOUN
Etymology
From auto- + -trophism.
Meanings
-
(uncountable) Synonym of autotrophy.
These definitions delineate the main features of autotrophism versus heterotrophism but some supplementary points are instructive.
2013, C. H. Werkman, P. W. Wilson, Bacterial Physiology, page 362:Firstly, that ab origine the adaptation to autotrophism already implies, even in the single autotrophes, a metabolic divergence, one of whose branches culminates in the fundamental reaction of protoplasm (in the individual's maintenance, growth, and reproduction), and the other branch in something equivalent to this fundamental reaction: the temporary fixing in the protoplasmic soma of the excess energy.
2013, Faustino Cordon, The Origin Nature and Evolution of Protoplasmic Individuals and Their Associations, page 396:Autotrophism provided a new mechanism for understanding how matter migrated between nature's inorganic and organic realms in terms of the activity of living beings.
2012, Lloyd Ackert, Sergei Vinogradskii and the Cycle of Life, page 74: