Ontleding of rot is the process by which dead organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter such as carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts. The process is a allocation of the nutrient cycle and is indispensable for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical make public in the biosphere. Bodies of energetic organisms begin to decompose snappishly after death. Animals, such as earthworms, also put taking place to decompose the organic materials. Organisms that pull off this are known as decomposers or detritivores. Although no two organisms decompose in the thesame way, they everything undergo the similar sequential stages of decomposition. The science which studies decomposition is generally referred to as tafonomie van het Griekse woord taptoe, meaning tomb. Decomposition can as well as be a gradual process for organisms that have Elongated periods of dormancy.

Men kan onderscheid maken abiotische ontbinding van biotische ontbinding (biodegradation). The former means “the degradation of a substance by chemical or beast processes”, e.g., hydrolysis; the latter means “the metabolic psychoanalysis of materials into simpler components by busy organisms”, typically by microorganisms.