What type of parasites require living organic matter for survival?

The correct answer highlights that both strict parasites and obligate parasites rely on living organic matter for their survival.

Strict or obligate parasites are organisms that depend entirely on a host for their life cycle and cannot live outside of a living organism. These parasites have specialized adaptations that allow them to exploit their hosts, often leading to damage or disease. They rely on the biological processes of their hosts to provide essential nutrients and a suitable environment for living and reproducing.

For instance, certain types of worms and protozoa are considered obligate parasites; they are unable to complete their life cycles without infecting a host. This makes understanding their biology crucial, especially in fields such as mortuary science and microbiology, where their presence can have significant implications on health and decomposition processes.

Facultative parasites, on the other hand, can survive in both living hosts and in the environment as saprophytes, meaning they can obtain nutrients from dead organic matter as well. This flexibility makes facultative parasites less reliant on living organisms for their life cycle compared to strict and obligate parasites.