FUNGI
FUNGI COMMON FUNGI EXAMPLES: Mushrooms, yeasts, molds, morels, bracket fungi, puff balls
FUNGI GENERAL INFORMATION Primarily decomposers – return organic matter to the soil Used to produce antibiotics like penicillin Used for food – mushrooms, yeast Parasites – plants and animals (athlete’s foot, ringworm)
FUNGI OVERVIEW Nonmotile organism than obtain food by decomposing organic matter Once considered plants, but contain no chlorophyll and are not photosynthetic Also unlike animals, therefore placed in own kingdom
FUNGI DOMAIN EUKARYOTA KINGDOM FUNGI General characteristics Eukaryotic Heterotrophic Have cell walls with chitin (different than plant, protist, and bacterial cell walls) May be unicellular but most are multicellular
molds
mildews
rusts
smuts
yeasts
mushrooms
GIANT PUFFBALL
FUNGI BASIC FUNGI BODY STRUCTURE Hyphae Individual filaments that contain cytoplasm and one or more nuclei Secrete enzymes to digest food Nutrients absorbed through cell wall
FUNGI Mycelium Entwined hyphae Most of fungus, under substrate (surface it’s growing on)
FUNGI FRUITING BODY Visible part Contains spore producing structures Like a mushroom cap
FUNGI FEEDING TYPES (NUTRITION) Saprophytic – feed on dead matter Parasitic – feed on living organisms
FUNGI HABITATS Need organic material, moisture Live almost everywhere, from polar icecaps to deserts to oceans Reach new areas through spores carried by wind Spores are necessary to find new food sources
FUNGI FOUR GROUPS OF FUNGI -- 81,500 species of fungi divided by structure and reproduction ZYGOMYCETES – bread molds ASCOMYCETES – sac fungi (morels, truffles, and yeasts BASIDIOMYCETES – mushrooms, puff balls DEUTEROMYCETES – imperfect fungi (penicillium)
FUNGI Common molds –Zygomycetes Frequently found in soil or on dead animals or plants Hyphae lack septa Specialized hyphae Rhizoids that absorb nutrients and hold molds to their food source Stolons that connect groups of rhizoids together Sporangia produces spores during reproduction
FUNGI ZYGOMYCOTA gets its name from the tough spores produced during sexual reproduction
FUNGI Sac fungi –Ascomycetes Powdery mildews, yeasts, fungi in lichens, and morels Characteristic that links these are production of saclike structures called asci during sexual reproduction Asexually reproduction is rare
FUNGI Club Fungi –Basidiomycetes Mushrooms are club fungi Have a tendency to reproduce sexually Asexually reproduction is rare Three visible structures of mushrooms Stipe Cap Gills made from tightly packed mycelia Fruiting bodies are called basidia
Structure of Mushroom annulus stipe Most fungi are saprophytic or parasitic. The saprophytes are helpful because they break down organic material returning nutrients to the soil.
FUNGI Imperfect fungi – Deuteromycetes Reproduce asexually and NOT sexually Examples are athlete’s foot & ringworm Example that is helpful is Penicillium because it make the antibiotic Spores called conidia come from hyphae called conidiophores
FUNGI ECOLOGICAL ROLES Decompose dead organisms; clear out dead plants and animals Recycle nutrients
FUNGI ECOLOGICAL ROLES SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIPS LICHEN --a symbiotic association between a fungus and a photosynthetic partner, usually a cyanobacterium or green alga. The fungi hyphae provide protection and hold moisture while food is provided by the photosynthetic partner.
FUNGI ECOLOGICAL ROLE -- SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH PLANT ROOTS Mycorrhizae: a symbiotic association between a fungus and plant roots. Over 90% of plants have fungi associated with their roots. The fungus absorbs and concentrates phosphates for delivery to the plant roots. In return, the fungus receives sugars synthesized by the plant during photosynthesis.
FUNGI ECONOMIC ROLE Used directly as food, or to make food Yeasts are useful in the making of bread and fermented drinks.
FUNGI ECOLOGICAL ROLE Some parasitic fungi are actually human pathogens causing athlete's foot and ringworm Some parasitic fungi are plant pathogens that destroy crops Produce medicine (antibiotics)
IMPERFECT FUNGI
IMPERFECT FUNGI