1. KINGDOM FUNGI

2. CHARACTERISTICS of FUNGI
The Kingdom Fungi includes eukaryotic, sessile heterotrophs that include a wide variety of organisms from unicellular yeasts to mushrooms and molds.

3. FUNGAL STRUCTURE & FUNCTION
Except for yeasts, all fungi are multicellular
Fungi have cell walls made of a carbohydrate substance called chitin (this is the same material that insects are made of!)
Multicellular fungi are composed of thin filaments called hyphae, each of which is about one cell thick and has 1-2 nuclei.
Many hyphae strung together form a mycelium.

4. FUNGAL STRUCTURE & FUNCTION

5. FUNGAL STRUCTURE & FUNCTION
The mycelium is well-suited to absorb food because it allows a large surface area to come in contact with its food source
What we recognize as a mushroom is actually the reproductive structure (fruiting body) of the mycelium that is growing below ground, kind of like the roots of a plant.

6. FUNGAL REPRODUCTION Most fungi reproduce both sexually or asexually.
Asexual reproduction takes place when hyphae break off from the fungus and begin to grow on their own.

7. FUNGAL REPRODUCTION
Some fungi (like this puffball) produce spores, which can scatter and form new organisms because spores are reproductive cells that are capable of undergoing mitosis.

8. FUNGAL REPRODUCTION

9. FUNGAL REPRODUCTION
Sexual reproduction in fungus usually involves the hyphae of two organisms fusing together in the same cell.

10. FUNGAL NUTRITION Unlike animals, fungi do not ingest their food.
Instead they secrete powerful digestive enzymes into their food & digest it outside of their bodies and then absorb it.

11. FUNGAL NUTRITION
Many fungi are decomposers, which means they feed by absorbing nutrients from decaying matter in the soil.

12. FUNGAL NUTRITION
Other fungi live as parasites, absorbing nutrients from the bodies of their hosts.

13. HOW FUNGI SPREAD
Fungal spores are found in almost every environment. This is why molds seem to spring up in any location that has the right combination of moisture and food.

14. HOW FUNGI SPREAD
The dry, almost weightless, spores that many fungi produce can scatter easily in the wind.

15. HOW FUNGI SPREAD
Other fungi are specialized to lure animals, which they use to disperse their spores over large distances.
The stinkhorn is a fungus that smells like rotting meat, which attracts flies, who eat a sticky fluid substance found on the fungus and distribute fungal spores in their excrement.

16. DIVISIONS of KINGDOM FUNGI
Kingdom Fungi is divided into 4 major divisions (phyla).
The divisions are based on the structures that the fungi in each phylum uses for reproduction.

17. DIVISIONS of KINGDOM FUNGI
The 4 phyla of Kingdom Fungi:
Zygomycota
Ascomycota
Basidiomycota
Deuteromycota

18. ZYGOMYCOTA Common molds Ex. bread mold Use zygospores to reproduce
Black bread mold

19. ASCOMYCOTA Sac fungi Ex. truffles, yeasts, cup fungi
Use ascus for reproduction
Can cause Ergot poisoning (humans) and chestnut blight (trees)

20. BASIDIOMYCOTA Club fungi Ex. Mushrooms, puffballs & rusts
Use basidia for reproduction
Some are harmful & parasitic and destroy crops.

21. DEUTEROMYCOTA Imperfect fungi Ex. Penicillium
Have never been observed undergoing sexual reproduction

22. FUNGI AS DECOMPOSERS
Fungi play an essential role in maintaining equilibrium in nearly every ecosystem, where they recycle nutrients by breaking down the bodies of wastes and other organisms.

23. FUNGI AS DECOMPOSERS
Without decomposition, the energy-rich compounds that living things acquire while they are alive would never be recycled into the Earth.
If these important minerals were not recycled back into the Earth, our soil would become depleted and the Earth would become lifeless and barren.

24. FUNGAL PLANT DISEASES
WHEAT RUST: Caused by a club fungus that infects wheat crops

25. FUNGAL PLANT DISEASES
CORN SMUT: Fungus that destroys corn crops

26. HUMAN FUNGAL DISEASES
ATHLETE’S FOOT & JOCK ITCH: Caused by an imperfect fungi that makes an inflamed sore from which the spores spread easily from person to person

27. HUMAN FUNGAL DISEASES
RING WORM: Same fungus that causes Athlete’s foot

28. HUMAN FUNGAL DISEASES
YEAST INFECTION: Grows in moist regions of the body

29. HUMAN FUNGAL DISEASES
THRUSH: A painful fungal infection of the mouth

30. ANIMAL FUNGAL DISEASES
Cordyceps: A fungus that infects insects & ingests their body tissues until the insect dies, then they feed off the dead matter.

31. FUNGAL ASSOCIATIONS
Fungi form symbiotic relationships with other organisms.
A symbiotic relationship is one in which organisms live closely together and usually benefit from their association.
For example: Lichens & mycorrhizae

32. FUNGAL ASSOCIATIONS
Lichens are a mutualistic relationship between a fungus & algae.
They benefit each other because the algae is photosynthetic and provide the fungus with a source of energy and the fungus, in turn, provides the algae with water and minerals.

33. FUNGAL ASSOCIATIONS
Mycorrhizae are a mutualistic relationship between a fungus and plant roots.
The hyphae of the fungus help plants absorb water and minerals, while the roots provide an energy source via photosynthesis.

34. THE END
THERE’S A FUNGUS AMONG US!