Diversity of Life I: Exam Two Review - Fungi, Lichens, and Bryophytes

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering fungal physiology, reproduction, taxonomic phyla, pathogens, lichen morphology, and bryophyte characteristics for EFB 210 Exam Two.

Achlorophyllous

The physiological condition of completely lacking chlorophyll pigments and being incapable of photosynthesis, a defining metabolic characteristic of fungi.

Absorptive Nutrition

The nutritional mode of fungi characterized by secreting digestive enzymes externally to break down substrates and absorbing the resulting nutrients, having lost ancestral phagotrophic capabilities.

Chitin

The structural polymer that primarily composes fungal cell walls, distinguishing true fungi from organisms with cellulose cell walls.

Hyphae

Microscopic vegetative filaments or threads that aggregate together to form a fungal mycelium.

Mycelium

The vegetative network or body of a fungus formed by aggregated bundles of microscopic hyphae.

Woronin Bodies

Specialized cellular organelles found in filamentous fungi of the subphylum Pezizomycotina that plug septal pores to seal off damaged compartments during injury.

Oomycetes

A group of organisms historically studied by mycologists that possess cellulose cell walls and are technically excluded from being classified as true fungi.

Fungal Evolutionary Origin

The evolutionary emergence of fungi, estimated to have diverged between $500\text{ million}$ and $1\text{ billion}$ years ago ($500\text{M}–1\text{B}$ years ago), with exact dates obscured due to poor preservation in the fossil record.

Lignin Decomposition Milestone

An evolutionary milestone occurring near the close of the Carboniferous Period marked by the evolution of specialized fungal enzymes capable of digesting cellulose and tough lignin polymers.

Homothallism

A self-fertile fungal reproductive strategy in which a single thallus completes the sexual cycle without distinct mating types, compatibility barriers, or outcrossing.

Heterothallism

A self-sterile fungal reproductive strategy that requires mandatory outcrossing between compatible mating types governed by genetic factors.

Plasmogamy

The first stage of fungal sexual reproduction consisting of the non-sexual fusion of cellular protoplasts without immediate nuclear fusion.

Karyogamy

The second stage of fungal sexual reproduction consisting of the fusion of compatible haploid ($1n$) nuclei to form a diploid ($2n$) zygotic nucleus.

Meiosis (Fungal)

The meiotic reduction division in the sexual reproduction cycle of fungi that leads directly to the formation of haploid ($1n$) spores.

Ascus Types

The recognized morphological categories of sexual spore-bearing asci in Ascomycota, including unitunicate, bitunicate, and protunicate (with atunicate not being an ascus type).

Chytridiomycota

A phylum of predominantly aquatic fungi characterized by the production of flagellated, motile zoospores.

Ascomycota

A phylum known as sac fungi that reproduce sexually via ascospores or asexually via conidia, divided into the subphyla Saccharomycotina, Taphrinomycotina, and Pezizomycotina.

Basidiomycota

A phylum known as club fungi characterized by septate mycelium possessing clamp connections, divided into the subphyla Agaricomycotina, Ustilaginomycotina, and Pucciniomycotina.

Mucoromycota

A major ecological phylum of fungi that includes common fast-growing molds and mycorrhizal symbionts.

Zoopagomycota

A fungal phylum featuring numerous parasitic species equipped with specialized adhesive traps and absorptive structures called haustoria.

Saccharomycotina

A subphylum of Ascomycota comprising budding yeasts.

Taphrinomycotina

A subphylum of Ascomycota comprising dimorphic fungi and fission yeasts.

Pezizomycotina

A subphylum of Ascomycota comprising filamentous spore-producing fungi that contain Woronin bodies.

Agaricomycotina

A subphylum of Basidiomycota comprising mushrooms and jelly fungi.

Ustilaginomycotina

A subphylum of Basidiomycota comprising true smut fungi.

Pucciniomycotina

A subphylum of Basidiomycota comprising rust fungi.

Amphibian Chytridiomycosis

A devastating infectious disease caused by a chytrid fungus that drives massive population die-offs in frogs and amphibians worldwide.

Autoecism

A life cycle adaptation in rust fungi wherein the entire sexual and asexual life cycle is completed on a single host species.

Cryphonectria

A fungal plant pathogen responsible for causing Chestnut Blight in American Chestnut trees.

Nectria

A fungal plant pathogen that infects and causes disease in Beech trees.

Ophiostoma

A fungal plant pathogen responsible for causing Dutch Elm disease.

Group I Mushroom Poisoning (Amanita)

A toxicological grouping consisting of Amanita species containing amatoxins (cyclopeptides), responsible for the majority of severe mushroom poisonings and fatalities.

Group II Mushroom Poisoning (Gyromitra)

A toxicological grouping consisting of false morels in the genus Gyromitra that contain volatile gyromitrin toxins.

Group III Mushroom Poisoning (Cortinarius)

A toxicological grouping consisting of Cortinarius species that produce delayed nephrotoxic orellanine (oenanthotoxin) toxins.

Lichen

A mutualistic symbiosis between a fungal partner (mycobiont) and a photosynthetic partner (photobiont), which is either an alga or cyanobacterium.

Crustose

A lichen growth form characterized by a crust-like thallus tightly adhered directly to the substrate.

Foliose

A lichen growth form characterized by a flat, leaf-like thallus with distinct lobes and margins attached to the substrate.

Umbilicate

A lichen growth form characterized by a circular or foliar thallus attached to the substrate at a single central point.

Fruticose

A lichen growth form characterized by shrubby, hair-like, or pendulous thalli with rounded or flattened branches.

Gelatinous Lichen

A lichen growth form containing cyanobacterial photobionts whose thalli swell into a gelatinous texture when wet.

Haploid Gametophyte Dominance

A primary land plant characteristic defining bryophytes, where the haploid ($1n$) gametophyte is the dominant, persistent generation in the life cycle.

Poikilohydry

The physiological condition of lacking active internal regulation over water content, causing an organism's internal hydration to mirror external environmental moisture.

Acrocarpous Mosses

A moss growth architecture characterized by upright growth in tufts or cushions with unbranched stems and terminal spore capsules.

Pleurocarpous Mosses

A moss growth architecture characterized by creeping, horizontally spreading branched carpets that bear lateral spore capsules.

Liverwort Morphologies

The structural forms exhibited by extant liverwort species, encompassing both leafy and flattened thalloid growth forms.

Moss Life Forms

Specific structural canopy architectures in mosses categorized distinct from growth forms, including Cushion, Protonemal Mat, and Weft.