saprotrophism

sapro- +‎ -trophism

saprotrophism (uncountable)

1. The condition of being saprotrophic
   • 2009, Edith L. Taylor, Thomas N. Taylor, Michael Krings, Paleobotany: The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants, page 99:

     Of all the potential levels of interaction between fungi and other organisms, parasitism is perhaps the most difficult to demonstrate and distinguish from saprotrophism in the fossil record.

   • 2012, R. Wood, Specificity in Plant Diseases, page 2:

     Savile (43) suggests that obligate parasitism is a fundamental attribute of primitive groups and that more than once saprotrophism may have derived from it.

   • 2018, Jean-Paul Soularue, Cécile Robin, Marie-Laure Desprez-Loustau, Cyril Dutech, “Short Rotations in Forest Plantations Accelerate Virulence Evolution in Root-Rot Pathogenic Fungi”, in Matteo Garbelotto, Paolo Gonthier, editors, Forest Pathology and Plant Health, page 31:

     Saprotrophism facilitates the persistence of the fungal population in a stand and limits the effects of genetic drift and founder effects by massively sustaining the production of propagules that will try to infect the healthy trees available (see Model section).