BIOL 119 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Clavarioid Fungi, Basidium, Ascomycota
Document Summary
Feed by absorbing nutrients from living or dead organisms. Key recyclers- influence productivity and biodiversity: some release nutrients from dead plants and animals, some transfer nutrients to living plants. Major destructive impact of fungi is through food supply: fruit/veggie spoilage, cause billions of dollars of crop losses each year. Beneficial impacts on humans: source of many antibiotics, mushrooms eaten, yeast for bread cheese etc, ferment cacao seeds for chocolate. Mycorrhizal- associations between fungi and plant roots allow faster plant growth: plant growth suffers in absence of these fungi. Saprophytes- fungi that make their living by digesting dead plant materia. Carbon cycle: fixation of carbon by land plants, release of co2 from plants, animals, and fungi as the result of cellular respiration. Two growth forms: single-celled forms- yeasts, multicellular, filamentous forms- mycelia. Hyphae- long, narrow, frequently branching filaments that make up mycelium: each filament is separated into cell by cross-walls called septa, some fungi are coenocytic- lack septa.
