Bio Ch. 29 fungi

• fungi are eukaryoties; grow as single cells or large, branching networks of multicellular filaments
• most fungi that live with other organisms benefit from their host which makes them mutualists
• fungi like to grow in dark, humid spots
• most fungi in the ecosystem are decomposers
• decomposer fungi break down dead organic matter into simpler molecules
• Fungi help root system absorb nutrients and water
• fungi help repel insect and pests from plants
• Fungi are master traders and recyclers in terrestrial ecosystems
• Fungi can cause diseases in humans and crop plants
• Fungi affect climate change because they are critical to the carbon cycle on land
• Fungi can cause a destructive impact on our food supply: smut and rust
• fungi are a source for many antibiotics
• Fungal enzymes (yeast extract) make foods like juice, candy and meat taste better
• Mycorrhizal Fungi live close to plant roots and provide nutrients for land plants
• Plants grow better in the presence of mycorrhizal fungi
• Saprophytic Fungi accelerate the carbon cycle on land
• Saprophytes are fungi that digest dead plant material and release nutrients into the soil
• Carbon cycle on land: fixation of carbon by land plants, release of CO2 from cellular respiration
• fungi have very simple bodies: yeasts and mycelia
• mycelia is multicellular fungi that had a threadlike structure with filaments
• All mycelia is dynamic: they constantly grow in direction of food souces and die back in areas where food is running out
• The body shape of a fungus can change throughout its life
• Hyphae: long, narrow filaments of mycelium
• Filaments are divided into cells by septa (cross-walls)
• Ceonocytic: fungi that lack a septa
• Fungi produce spores to tolerate drought
• Mycelia have a large surface area allwos them to absorb more nutrients but are more prone to drying out
• Mycelia reproduce sexually and aseuxually
• Swimming gametes and spores: sexually produced gametes and asexually produced spores (zoospores) of chytrids have flagella
• Basidia spore: club-like cells at the ends of hyphae
• Asci spore: sac-like cells at the ends of hyphae
• spores are gametes in fungi that can form asexually or sexually
• basidiomycota is club fungi
• ascomycota is sac fungi
• glomeromycota is arbuscular fungi
• zygomycota is zygote fungi
• chytridiomycota is chytrids
• chytridiomycota or chytrids have swimming gametes and spores
• Chytrids are largely aquatic and common in freshwater
• zygosporangia (zygomycota) has spore-producing structures formed when hyphase are yoked