Fungi

Lecture 2

Main Characteristics of Fungus

• Bodies have a unique structural composition

• They get their nutrients from other organisms

  • seen has decomposers

• They reproduce asexually and sexually (+,-)

A group of fungi - Chytrids

• Predominantly aquatic

• Most are scavengers

• One specie is a frog killer

  • Some frogs are resistant, others aren’t

  • Invaded the frog’s skin surface layer causing damage to the keratin layer and disrupting moisture balance

• Have photosynthesis capacity

Eukarya

have nuclei

A group of fungi - Rumen

• Anaerobic - don’t need air to survive

• Symbiotic relationship with ruminants (animals = cow, sheep, deer)

  • Can hangout in the stomach of animals

  • Allows cows to chop and survive on grass because it allow them to digest the cellulose and the plant proteins

A group of fungi - Basidiomycetes

• classic moldy bread

Mycorrhiza

• need in plant roots

  • Process/fix the byproducts of plants allowing for the plants to get nitrogen back (nitrogen fixing)

  • reason for crop rotation occurring

    • excessive nitrogen are taken care of in plants don’t need as much and give to other plants that need it

Endophytes

• In plant leaves

• Good for the plant

  • makes the plant taste bad so animals won’t eat it

  • Allowing plants to stay alive and reproducing

Truffles

Underground mushrooms

Hard to cultivate

Stinky Cheese

Fungus injected into the cheese and grow within it for the taste

Basidiomycete ‘rusts’

• Stop crop growth

Powdery Mildew

• Doesn’t kill the plant but sucks the life out the plant by sucking out its nutrients

Dutch Elm Disease

• Major issue in forsest in the west

• Kills the Elm trees

Impacts of fungi on humans

• Ringworm & Athletes foot

• Lung Diseases

  • Inhaling a fungal spore

  • fungi grow in lungs