18. Are fungi stationary or moving organisms?

Fungi are stationary organisms. All their species, without exception, do not make movements and grow throughout life.

19. What is the difference between a fungus and a mushroom? Do all fungi have a fruiting body?

Fungi are a group of eukaryotic organisms belonging to the kingdom Fungi. The kingdom fungi include organisms such as moulds, rusts, smuts, mushrooms and yeasts.

Mushrooms are reproductive structures of certain types of fungi. In fact, a mushroom is just an attempt of a microorganism (fungus) to reproduce. It is a fruiting body appearing during the reproduction of macroscopic fungi.

Only mushroom among all fungi have a fruiting body.

20. Are fungi hetero- or autotrophs?

Fungi are heterotrophs, as they feed on ready-made organic compounds that come as solutions from the soil during decomposition of organics or from plants (symbiosis and parasitism). They are not capable of autotrophic nutrition, since they do not have chlorophyll.

21. What ecological functions are performed by fungi?

Fungi play many roles in nature. One is that of a decomposer. Mold, mildew and mushrooms grow on dead organic matter and are able to obtain nutrients while breaking down the organic matter which helps to recycle their components back to the environment. They are an important part of the food chain for organisms like humans and others.

22. What cases of ecological relationship between fungi and other organisms do you know? Give examples of symbiosis, mutualism, parasitism, etc.

Symbiosis describes an interaction that benefits both species. A well-known example exists in the symbiotic relationship between alga and fungus that form lichens. The photsynthesizing alga supplies the fungus with nutrients, and gains protection in return. A mycorrhiza is a symbiotic association between a green plant and a fungus. The plant makes organic molecules such as sugars by photosynthesis and supplies them to the fungus, and the fungus supplies to the plant water and mineral nutrients, such as phosphorus, taken from the soil. The association is sometimes mutualistic. Unlike commensalism and mutualism, the parasitic relationship harms the host, either feeding on it or, as in the case of intestinal parasites, consuming some of its food. For example, the honey fungi in the genus Armillaria grow in the roots of a wide variety of trees, and eventually kill them. They then continue to live in the dead wood, feeding saprophytically. Fungal infection (mycosis) is widespread in animals including humans.

23. What is the significance of fungi for humans?

Fungi are important to human life on many levels. As animal pathogens, fungi help to control the population of damaging pests. Fungi are currently under investigation as potential microbial insecticides. The mycorrhizal relationship between fungi and plant roots is essential for the productivity of farm land. Fungi can be used in the process of fermentation to produce beer and wine - specifically with the fungi Yeast. Yeast can also be used to make bread dough rise and are thus important fungi in the baking industry. Fungi naturally produce antibiotics to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria. Important antibiotics, such as penicillin and the cephalosporins, can be isolated from fungi.

24. What is a bacterium? Why are bacteria classified into a separate Kingdom?

Bacterium are a type of microscopic single-celled organisms that live in enormous numbers in almost every environment on Earth. All bacteria contain a single ring DNA molecule located in the nucleoid instead of the nucleus. Bacteria lack membrane organoids present in eukaryotic organisms (mitochondria, lysosomes, Golgi apparatus, etc.). Therefore, they are classified into a separate Kingdom.