What are fungi?
Fungi are organisms that are some what
Where are t
Fungi will grow on almost any thin
distantly related to plants, and lower
food in the form of molds and yeas
animals. Fungi are consumers. They are
water or soil. They also form paras
part of the eukaryotic crown group that
animals. Fungi best grows where th
started around a million years ago.
Paul F. Hamlyn
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What types are there?
There are about 56,000 species known but there about 1million
said to be unknown. There are 4 main groups that fungi can be put
into: threadlike, sac, club, and imperfect. Threadlike fungi mostly
live in the soil and decompose, but some are parasites. The
threadlike group reproduces asexually. There are extensions of
hyphae with spores on it. They can also reproduce sexually. Sac
fungi is the largest group of fungi. It includes yeasts, morels,
truffles, and powdery mildews. Reproduction with sac fungi
involves the forming of a sac. This formation is called ascus.
Sexually produced spores are created in the sac. Sac fungi usually
reproduce asexually and sexually. Most sac fungi are multicellular.
Mostly all sac fungi are useful to people. Club fungi are the kind
of fungi that you see that looks like an umbrella. Other kinds of
Club fungi are puffballs, smuts, and rusts. During sexual
reproduction special hyphae create and make club like structures
called basidia. Sexual spores are created in the basidia.
Imperfect fungi pretty much include all types of fungi that does
not fit any other types of fungi. They do not reproduce sexually.
-
Characteristics
They are eukaryotic
- They are consumers
- They come in many
different shapes, sizes,
and colors
- They are heterotrophs
(the require organic
compounds that other
organisms synthesize.)
- Their cells contain nuclei
with chromosomes
- They can either be single,
or multicellular
- They reproduce both
sexually and asexually
How does fungi get food?
Some types of fungi are
parasites. They get their food
by growing on other living
organisms and getting their
food from that organism.
Other types of fungi get their
food from dead matter. These
fungi decompose, or break
down, dead plants and animals.
How do they reproduce?
Fungi reproduce by letting out little spores from itself. When
the spores are released into the air, it is taken by the wind to
somewhere. That is where the next generation is started.
What does fungi do and how does it affect us?
Fungi’s main purpose is to decompose. Fungi decompose all the
dead animals and plants. Without them doing that, the world
would be littered and polluted with all the dead animals and plants
lying around. Some other fungi are used to make medicines, like
Penicillin.
How are they good? How are they bad?
Fungi can be good in a lot of ways. They can make medicines to
heal sick people. For example, Penicillin. Fungi are also in types of
cheese. One of the best things fungi do is decomposing. They
break down all the dead plants and animals. Some bad things
about fungi are the parasite types. They live off of other
organisms and take food from them.
History
Fungi were here over nine hundred million years ago. Scientist
know this because they have found fossil records. Then, three
lineages were created: Zygomycetes, Asomycetes, and
Basidomycetes.