All living things die eventually. In ecological terms, the chemicals of living things are borrowed from the Earth, and at death they return. All the material that every animal, from the smallest fly to the largest elephant, takes in as food also returns to the Earth, as waste matter. The dead material and waste matter form the diet of a group of living organisms called decomposers. They include a range of bacteria, fungi, and small animals that break down nature’s wastes into ever smaller pieces until all the chemicals are released into the air, the soil, and the water, making them available to other living things. Without the carbon dioxide released from the process, all plant life would die out. Without the oxygen that plants give out, and without the food that they supply, life would grind to a halt and all animals would starve. The decomposers are a vital link in the natural cycle of life and death.
According to the passage, death is not the end of life, but rather