Living organisms are stores of energy: plants receive energy from the Sun, and act as energy stores for herbivorous animals. Herbivores our energy stores for carnivores, and so on.
When an organism dies, any energy that it stores is transferred to organisms which act as recyclers. This story tells about one important type of recycler, the fungi. Bacteria and invertebrate organisms can also be recyclers.
The molecules that make up the body of an organism are also available to be recycled, when the organism dies.
