Fungi Kingdom Ch. 16 p. 334-340

• Fungi rot timbers, spoil food, and afflict humans with athletes foot, skin disorders, & even pneumonia!

• Decompose dead organisms, fallen leaves, feces, and other organic materials. Recycling vital chemical elements back to the environment.

• Are eukaryotes, typically multicellular, and probably more closely related to animals than plants.

Fungal Fairy Ring

More Fungi…

• Are heterotrophs that require their nutrients by absorption.

• Digest food outside the body by secreting powerful hydrolytic enzymes into the food and absorb the decomposed nutrients from the surrounding medium.

• Parasitic fungi absorb nutrients from the cells of living hosts.

• Some fungi, such as species infecting human lungs are pathogenic.

Orange being DecomposedBy Fungi

Fungi: Structure and Function• Are structurally adapted for their

absorptive nutrition.

• Bodies constructed of structures called hyphae, minute threads composed of tubular walls, surrounding plasma membranes, and cytoplasm.

• Hyphae form an interwoven mat called a mycelium, which is the feeding network of a fungus.

• Fungal mycelium can be huge, but most escape our notice because they are often subterranean.

• The mycelium of one humongous fungus in Oregon is 3.4 miles in diameter and spreads through 2,200 acres of forest. The fungus is at least 2,400 years old and hundreds of tons in weight, qualifying it among Earth’s oldest and largest organisms!

Reproduction in Fungi:

• Reproduce by releasing spores that are produced either sexually or asexually.

• Number of spores can be in the trillions.

• Carried by wind or water, spores germinate to produce mycelia if they land in a moist place where there is food.

• Airborne spores have been found more than 160 km (100 miles) above Earth.

Mushroom Gills containing Basidia

What good is a fungus?• Used by humans in various ways for

centuries: we eat some fungi (mushrooms)

• Add them to dough to make bread rise(yeast)

• Culture them in milk to produce a variety of cheeses (blue cheese)

• Use them to ferment beer and wine (yeast)

• Morals and truffles are a delicacy

• Used to produce antibiotics and other drugs (penicillin, sulfa)

• Mycorrhizae – partners with plants.

• Fungi play a vital role on earth!

• What is a lichen? ___________

Penicillin

Truffles

Blue CheeseQ: What did the female mushroom say to the male mushroom?

A: You’re a fun guy!