Denitrifying Detritis

Denitrifying Detritis are a variety of detriti which developed features that would allow them to survive in anaerobic conditions. They usually respire oxygen, but under anaerobic conditions, they use nitrate as an electron acceptor instead of oxygen during respiration. This has the effect of denitrifying the soil and sediment where they reside. This adaptation allows them to thrive in locations where other detritis cannot, and thus they diversified into a global lineage.

Denitrifying Detritis generally live in soil and sediment, and can be found deep in the water table of many land biomes. Due to their namesake nature, they can thrive even where there is no oxygen at all as long as there is nitrate. Like their ancestor, they possess acidic enzymes which allow them to melt through mineralized parts of crystal flora and binucleid worms, such as the shell and petrolignum bark. However, they are generally not picky on what clade they’re willing to decompose; they will break down any dead organism, whether it be flora, fauna, or cell, for sustenance. Like many terran microbes, there are many species and they can be difficult to distinguish.