BLG 144 Chapter Notes - Chapter 31: Dikaryon, Carbon Cycle, Mycelium
Document Summary
Fungi are eukaryotes that grow as single cells or as large branching networks of multicellular filaments. Fungi absorb their nutrition from other organisms, dead or alive. Fungi are the master traders and recyclers in terrestrial ecosystems. Some fungi release nutrients from dead plants and animals and some transfer nutrients they obtain to living plants: fungi provide nutrients for land plants. Mycorrhizal fungi- fungi that live in close association with plant roots. Mycorrhizal fungi help land plants grow three to four times faster than they normally do without them. Fungi are critical to the productivity of forests, croplands, and rangelands: fungi speed the carbon cycle on land. Saprophytes- fungi that make their living by digesting dead plant material. When trees die, fungi are the organisms that break down wood into sugars and other small organic compounds and use them for food. When the fungi die or are eaten, the molecules are passed along to a wide array of other organisms.
