fungi

Question 1

where do fungi grow

Answer 1

-fungi are the most common but least visible organisms on earth
-they grow out of sight: underground or within other organisms (dead or alive)

Question 2

how do they get energy

Answer 2

• heterotrophs
• external digestion: secrete enzymes, breaks down into smaller components, absorbed later

Question 3

how are fungi similar to and different from plants?

Answer 3

similar: both stationary eukaryotes and can be multicellular
different: don’t perform photosynthesis (do not have chloroplasts)
*more closely related to animals than to plants

Question 4

why are fungi good

Answer 4

• major decomposers
• provide food/drink to humans
• used for drugs

Question 5

how are fungi major decomposers

Answer 5

break down dead/decaying matter and return it to the soil for producers to use (symbiotic relationship*)

Question 6

provide food/drinks to humans

Answer 6

• mushrooms & truffles
• used to make bread
• blue cheese
• soy sauce
• alcoholic beverages

Question 7

how are fungi used for drugs

Answer 7

• antibiotic penicillin
• cyclosporine: drug used by organ transplant recipients

Question 8

types of symbiotic relationships

Answer 8

• mutualism: mutual benefit
• parasitism: one benefits, other harmed
• commensalism: one benefits, other unaffected

Question 9

how do fungi have a symbiotic relationship?

Answer 9

• mutualism
• hyphae grow around or within root cells of the plant
• fungi help supply plant with nutrients, while plant provides fungus with carbohydrates (food)

Question 10

why are fungi bad?

Answer 10

• cause disease
• human diseases: ringworm, yeast infections, athletes foot
• cause physical damage to plants (rotting wood)
• many tree species almost extinct because of fungi
• produce toxins that cause hallucinations and paralysis

Question 11

functions of fungi

Answer 11

• absorption of nutrients
• reproduction

Question 12

structure of most fungi

Answer 12

• majority of a fungus in the form of a mycelium (branching structure) typically found underground
• reproductive structure (fruiting body) is the visible part of the fungus

Question 13

function of fruiting body

Answer 13

reproduction

Question 14

hyphae

Answer 14

• thin filaments that make up body
• structurally different from animal and plant cells
• long tubes of cytoplasm with many nuclei
• secrete digestive enzymes into surroundings and then absorb nutrients through cell membranes

Question 15

cell wall made of

Answer 15

chitin

Question 16

mushrooms: basidia

Answer 16

• reproductive organ
• cover the gills
• produce spores

Question 17

fungi reproduction

Answer 17

is complicated: some include stages of sexual as well as asexual reproduction

Question 18

mushroom reproduction

Answer 18

• plants have seeds, fungi have spores
• spores produced and released from gills
• spores grow into hyphae and then combine into mycelium
• under right conditions (temperature, light intensity, etc.) the mycelium develops into fruiting body