What did the broccoli say to the
mushroom?????
You’re a …
• FUN-GUY ...
• Or FUNGI …
• Or whatever …
• Ya, that was bad …
• Ok, let’s move on …
The Fungi
1. Characteristics
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Can’t move: sessile
Multicellular (if singular called "yeast")
Heterotrophic
Don’t contain chlorophyll
Eukaryotic
Saprophytic: absorb their food from decaying matter
(decomposers)
• External digestion (animals etc. have internal digestion)
• Have cell walls (made of chitin)
• Live in moist environments
2. Uses
• Keep the forest floor clear
• Make trees and plants grow faster (lichens)
• Food for humans (bread, cheese, wine,
medicines)
3. Saprobes
1. Fungi can’t digest foods within their bodies.
2. Thus, fungi release digestive enzymes into the
immediate environment
3. Enzymes break down dead organic matter.
4. Fungus then absorbs digested food through
their cell walls.
4. Reproduction
• most reproduce asexually and sexually by
spores
• spore: a cell that has a haploid number of
chromosomes
• also reproduce sexually by the conjugation of
hyphae to form a “zygospore”
Chytrids
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Most ancient of the fungi
The only fungi with swimming spores
Most are saprophytes (Rot growers)
Obtain food from dead organic material
Single Celled or Multicellular
Zygomycetes
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Include some familiar bread and fruit moulds
Most are soil fungi
Many used commercially
Many are parasites of insects
Glomeromycetes
• All form symbiotic relationships with plant
roots
Ascomycetes
• Many, such as yeast, are useful to humans
• Some cause serious plant diseases
Basidiomycetes
• Mushrooms, puffballs and bracket fungi
• Most are decomposers
• Some form symbiotic relationships with plants
Magic …
• Amanita Muscaria
• commonly known as the fly agaric or fly
amanita
• a mushroom and psychoactive basidiomycete
fungus
Just Sayin …