Biology Encyclopedia	Fungi Author, 3000 “”
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Author

Common Names

Fungus (singular).  Fungi (plural).

Latin Synonyms

Linnaean Rank

Ancestral Phylogeny and Taxonomy

Explanation of phylogenetic trees

Lineage

Terrabiota, Cytota, Neomura, Eukaryota, Unikonta, Opisthokonta

Descendant Phylogeny and Taxonomy

Explanation of phylogenetic trees

Morphology

Distribution

Ecology

All fungi are heterotrophs that acquire nutrients by absorbtion.  In this type of nutrition, organic molecules are absorbed from the surrounding medium. The fungus digests food outside of its body by secreting powerful enzymes into the food.  The enzymes decompose complex molecules to the simpler compounds that the fungus can absorb and use.  There are three types of fungi absorption:  saprobic, mutualistic, and parasitic.  Saprobic fungi absorb nutrients from non-living organic material, such as fallen logs, animal corpses, or the wastes of live organisms.  Parasitic fungi absorb nutrients from the cells of living hosts.  Mutualistic fungi also absorb nutrients from another organism, but they reciprocate with functions beneficial to their partners in some way, such as aiding a plant in the uptake of minerals from the soil.  Most fungi are terrestrial in habitat, but some inhabit aquatic environments where they are associated with both marine and freshwater organisms and their remains (Campbell, 1996).

Evolution

Development

Ethnomycology

Population

Notes and Comments

References

Literature

Campbell, Neil.  1996.  Biology, 4th ed.  The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing company, Inc.

Information on the Internet