2. What are Fungi?
• The way in which Fungi grow from
the ground once led scientists to
classify them as
nonphotosynthetic plants
• However, they are not plants at
all, fungi are very different
• Fungi are eukaryotic heterotrophs
that have cell walls
4. Fungi Nutrition
• Remember that heterotrophs depend on
other organisms for food
• Unlike animals, fungi do not ingest their
food
• Instead they digest food outside their
bodies and then absorb it
• Many feed by absorbing nutrients from
decaying matter in the soil (decomposers)
• Others live as parasites, absorbing
nutrients from their hosts
5. Structure and Function of Fungi
• All fungi are multicellular with the
exception of yeast
• Multicellular fungi are composed
of thin filaments called hyphae
13. Fungi reproduction
• Sexual reproduction involves two
different mating types (+ and -)
• When two hyphae of opposite
mating types meet, their nuclei
fuse together
20. Ecology of Fungi
• Fungi have been around since life first
moved onto land
• Paleontologists think that fungi helped
early plants to obtain nutrients from the
ground
• Their early appearance suggests that
fungi may have been essential to plants
successful colonization of the land
• Overtime, fungi have become an important
part of virtually all ecosystems
21. Edible and Inedible
Mushrooms
• Many types of mushrooms are
considered delicious
• Although wild mushrooms are edible,
many are poisonous
• You should never pick or eat
mushrooms in the wild
• Leave mushroom gathering to the
experts
22. All Fungi Are Heterotrophs
• Many are saprobes
• Others are parasites
• Others are symbionts that live in
close and mutually beneficial
association with other species
25. Fungi as Decomposers
• Fungi play an essential role in
maintaining equilibrium in nearly
every ecosystem
• They recycle nutrients by
breaking down the bodies and
wastes of other organisms by
releasing digestive enzymes
26. Fungi as Parasites
• As useful as many fungi are
others can infect both animals
and plants and cause diseases
• Ex.) Wheat rust, athelets foot,
Candida, Cordyceps
32. Lichens
• The algae or cyanobacteria - Carries
out photosynthesis providing the
fungus with food
• The fungus provides the algae or
bacteria with – water and minerals
that it collects and also protects the
delicate algae cell
• Lichens are often the first organisms
to enter barren environments
33. Mycorrhizae
• Symbiotic relationship between plant
roots and fungi
• Fungi allow plants to – absorb more
water and minerals
• Fungi also release enzymes that –
free nutrients into the soil
• Plants provide fungi with – the
products of photosynthesis