Fungi Lab
Purpose: To examine various fungi to determine their structural differences and importance in our world.
Assignment:
1. Create a 4 page booklet of fungi.
2. Each page will be for a different Phylum of fungus: Ascomycota, Deuteromycota, Basidiomycota, and
Zygomycota.
3. Each page will include:
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Phylum name
Species examples
Picture of species (or product) in real life (magazines, download, hand-drawn)
Slide diagram of species (listed below) labelled (hunt and find on internet—use Google
images for example)
Importance of this Phylum in our lives (2-3 sentence paragraph)
4. Species to be included for slide drawings are Peziza, Penicillium, Rhizopus (show zygote and sporangia),
Coprinus mushroom. (You need to figure out what Phylum they belong in!)
Hint: Check the next page for slide pictures so you know what you are looking for and below for my
original microscope lab instructions to help you know what to draw and label.
5. Design a template to follow so that each page is set up exactly the same!
Discussion:
1. Describe the symbiotic relationships found in lichen and mycorrhizae.
(Include the roles of both partners).
2. State how many spores are found in an ascus and a basidium.
3. State the function of the fruiting body of a mushroom (the part that appear above ground). Describe how
the fruiting body obtains its food.
4. Are fungi plants? Explain your reasoning.
Hints for drawing:
1.
2a).
2b).
3.
4.
Draw Peziza . Label the ascus and ascospore.
Draw a Rhizopus (bread mold) sporangium and its attached sporangiophore. Label
Draw a Rhizopus zygote. (label)
Examine a prepared slide of Penicillium on Orange rind. Draw and label the conidiospores and
conidiophore (holder). The conidiospores will be hard to see—go to the outer edges of the mass of
hyphae—they look like a straw-broom or bony hand.
Examine a prepared slide of Coprinus (a mushroom). Draw a section of the gill, showing a magnified
view of the basidium and basidiospores. (label)