Lecture 9 Flashcards
(9 cards)
What is the branch of biology that studies fungi?
Mycology.
Fungi makeup?
Mushroom- fruiting body
Mycellium- underground, extract nutrients.
How are fungi plant-like?
Grow in/on substrate, have a cell wall which metazoans lack, are non-motile (apart from some flagellated spores).
Share 10 MY of evolution with plants.
How are fungi animal-like?
Same trophic level as they are heterotrophic.
Have chitin like animals.
Most closely related to animals of the 2 other groups in domain eukaryota.
How much of fungal diversity is known?
100,000 species described of 0.8-5.1 million estimated (2-12% of total).
Where does fungal biodiversity peak?
In tropical ecosystems. Diversity positively correlates with mean annual precipitation, soil acidity and calcium content.
What are symbionts?
Interactions between plants and mycorrhizae. 90% of all vascular plants. Increases mineral nutrition, water absoprtion, growth, disease and parasite resistance.
What effect do parasitic and pathogenic fungi have?
Destroy enough food to feed 8.5% of the population every year. Rare and severe epidemics could destroy enough food to feed 61% of human population.
What are saprotrophs?
Fungi with hyphae the right size to decay plant material which are primarily responsible for recycling plant material. Without them, nutrients would be bound in plant remains and there would be a lack of atmospheric CO2.
