Fungi Flashcards
1
Q
What key roles do fungi have? (3)
A
- Nutrient cycling
- Ecological interactions
- Human welfare
2
Q
How do fungi feed?
A
Through absorption
3
Q
How do fungi digest matter?
A
- They secrete enzymes that break down organic matter to release nutrients
- Hyphae absorb the nutrients
4
Q
What is the role of spores and when do they germinate?
A
- They enable fungi to colonise new environments
- In favourable conditions - cooling and moist
5
Q
What are the two types of hyphae?
A
- Septate - Coenocytic
6
Q
What are the characteristics of septate hyphae?
A
- Have pores - Divided by septum
7
Q
What are the characteristics of coenocytic hyphae?
A
Are not divided
8
Q
What are the two types of specialised hyphae?
A
- Trapping and killing
- Arbuscules
9
Q
Fungi are part of a group known as the
A
Opisthokonts
10
Q
What are the key groups in the Opisthokonta supergroup?
A
- Animals
- Nucleariids
- Chytrids
- Fungi
11
Q
Ascomycetes are a group of ___ and are
a) macroscopic
b) microscopic
A
Fungi; A.
12
Q
Basidiomycetes are a group of ___ and are
a) macroscopic
b) microscopic
A
Fungi; B.
13
Q
What is the role of decomposers in an ecosystem?
A
Breaking down dead organic matter and recycling nutrients
14
Q
Which of the following best describes asexual reproduction?
A
Reproduction without the fusion of gametes
15
Q
What is mutualism?
A
An ecological interaction where both species benefit
16
Q
Which ecological interaction involves one organism benefiting while the other is unaffected?
A
Commensalism
17
Q
What are decomposers and how do they affect ecosystems?
A
Decomposers are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms to recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem.
18
Q
What is the difference between asexual and sexual reproduction?
A
- Asexual reproduction involves a single organism producing offspring identical to itself
- Sexual reproduction involves the combination of genetic material from two parents, resulting in genetically diverse offspring.
19
Q
Symbiosis
A
A close and often long-term interaction between two different biological species.
20
Q
How do fungi primarily obtain their nutrition?
A
By absorption
21
Q
What body structure do many fungi form to obtain food?
A
Multicellular filaments
22
Q
What is the primary nutritional mode of fungi?
A
Heterotrophy by absorption
23
Q
Multicellular filaments
A
A body structure in fungi that plays an important role in how they obtain food
24
Q
What role do hydrolytic enzymes play in fungi?
A
They break down complex molecules to smaller organic compounds
25
What is a characteristic of parasitic fungi?
They absorb nutrients from the cells of living hosts
26
How do mutualistic fungi benefit their host?
By reciprocating with actions that benefit the host
27
What is one reason for the ecological success of fungi?
Their body structure increases the efficiency of nutrient absorption
28
What roles do fungi play in ecological communities?
Fungi can act as decomposers
29
What is the function of hydrolytic enzymes secreted by fungi?
Hydrolytic enzymes break down complex molecules into smaller organic compounds that fungi can absorb.
30
What distinguishes parasitic fungi from mutualistic fungi?
- Parasitic fungi absorb nutrients from living hosts and can cause diseases
- Mutualistic fungi absorb nutrients from a host organism but also provide benefits to the host.
31
Heterotrophs
Organisms that cannot produce their own food and must obtain nutrients by consuming other organisms.
32
Decomposers
Fungi that break down and absorb nutrients from nonliving organic material such as fallen logs animal corpses and wastes of living organisms.
33
What are the most common fungal body structures?
Multicellular filaments and single cells (yeasts)
34
Where do yeasts often inhabit?
Moist environments
35
What is the function of chitin in fungal cell walls?
Strengthens the cell walls
36
What structural feature divides fungal hyphae into cells?
Septa
37
What is a continuous cytoplasmic mass with multiple nuclei called?
Coenocytic fungi
38
What is the interwoven mass of fungal hyphae called?
Mycelium
39
How do multicellular fungi primarily grow?
By extending the tips of their hyphae
40
What is the function of hyphae in multicellular fungi?
To grow into and absorb nutrients from their surroundings
41
What are mycorrhizae?
Mutually beneficial relationships between fungi and plant roots
42
What is the primary function of arbuscules in mycorrhizal fungi?
To exchange nutrients with plant hosts
43
Which type of mycorrhizal fungi forms sheaths of hyphae over the surface of a root?
Ectomycorrhizal fungi
44
What do mycorrhizal fungi receive from their plant hosts in exchange for nutrients?
Organic nutrients such as carbohydrates
45
How do mycorrhizal fungi primarily disperse to new areas?
By dispersing haploid cells called spores
46
What is a key benefit of mycorrhizae to plant roots?
More effective nutrient acquisition
47
How do fungi primarily propagate themselves?
By producing vast numbers of spores
48
What can carry fungal spores long distances?
Wind or water
49
What happens to fungal spores when they land in a moist place with food?
They germinate - producing a new mycelium
50
What is an example of a fungal reproductive structure that releases trillions of spores?
Puffballs
51
What can you observe on a slice of melon left exposed to the air for a week?
Fuzzy mycelia growing from microscopic spores
52
What is the ancestor of fungi?
An aquatic
53
According to systematists which group are fungi more closely related to?
Animals
54
What type of data provides insights into the early evolution of fungi?
Paleontology and molecular systematics
55
Which genus of chytrids has been identified as having diverged early in the history of fungi?
Rozella
56
What is the name of the clade that includes Rozella and other unicellular fungi with flagellated spores?
Cryptomycota
57
What is unique about the cell walls of Rozella and other members of the cryptomycota clade?
They do not synthesize a chitin-rich cell wall during any life cycle stage.
58
What key structural feature found in most fungi is absent in cryptomycota?
Chitin-rich cell wall
59
Basidiocarp
Elaborate fruiting body of a dikaryotic mycelium of a club fungus.
60
Zygomycete
A member of the fungal phylum Zygomycota characterised by the formation of a sturdy structure called a zygosporangium during sexual reproduction.
61
Septum
(plural
62
Pheromone
In animals and fungi
63
Karyogamy
The fusion of haploid nuclei contributed by the two parents; occurs as one stage of sexual reproduction preceded by plasmogamy.
64
Zoospore
Flagellated spore found in chytrid fungi and some protists.
65
Conidium
(plural
66
Basidium
(plural
67
Heterokaryon
A fungal mycelium that contains two or more haploid nuclei per cell.
68
Lichen
The mutualistic association between a fungus and a photosynthetic alga or cyanobacterium.
69
Zygosporangium
(plural
70
Mycosis
General term for a fungal infection.
71
Ascus
(plural
72
Mycelium
(plural
73
Chytrid
A member of the fungal phylum Chytridiomycota mostly aquatic fungi with flagellated zoospores that represent an early-diverging fungal lineage.
74
Ascomycete
A member of the fungal phylum Ascomycota commonly called sac fungus. The name comes from the saclike structure in which the spores develop.
75
Basidiomycete
A member of the fungal phylum Basidiomycota commonly called club fungus. The name comes from the club-like shape of the basidium.
76
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
A symbiotic fungus whose hyphae grow through the cell wall of plant roots and extend into the root cell (enclosed in tubes formed by invagination of the root cell plasma membrane).
77
Plasmogamy
The fusion of the cytoplasm of cells from two individuals; occurs as one stage of sexual reproduction followed later by karyogamy.
78
Ectomycorrhizal fungus
A symbiotic fungus that forms sheaths of hyphae over the surface of plant roots and also grows into extracellular spaces of the root cortex.
79
Nucleariid
A member of a group of unicellular amoeboid protists that are more closely related to fungi than they are to other protists.
80
Arbuscules
Specialised branching hyphae that are found in some mutualistic fungi and exchange nutrients with living plant cells.
81
Soredia
(plural, soredia) In lichens a small cluster of fungal hyphae with embedded algae.
82
Glomeromycete
A member of the fungal phylum Glomeromycota characterised by a distinct branching form of mycorrhizae called arbuscular mycorrhizae.
83
Ascocarp
The fruiting body of a sac fungus (ascomycete).
84
Hyphae
(plural, hyphae) One of many connected filaments that collectively make up the mycelium of a fungus.
85
Mould
Informal term for a fungus that grows as a filamentous fungus producing haploid spores by mitosis and forming a visible mycelium.
86
Endophyte
A harmless fungus that lives between cells of a plant part or multicellular alga.
87
Deuteromycete
Traditional classification for a fungus with no known sexual stage.
88
Spore
(1) In the life cycle of a plant or alga undergoing alternation of generations - a haploid cell produced in the sporophyte by meiosis. A spore can divide by mitosis to develop into a multicellular haploid individual (the gametophyte) without fusing with another cell.
(2) In fungi - a haploid cell produced either sexually or asexually
89
coenocytic fungus
A fungus that lacks septa and hence whose body is made up of a continuous cytoplasmic mass that may contain hundreds or thousands of nuclei.
90
Dikaryotic
Referring to a fungal mycelium with two haploid nuclei per cell
91
Yeast
Single-celled fungus. Yeasts reproduce asexually by binary fission or by the pinching of small buds off a parent cell. Many fungal species can grow both as yeasts and as a network of filaments; relatively few species grow only as yeasts.
