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How Fungi Feed Most Fungi are saprophytes which means they break down matter and play a vital role in recycling nutrients. As hyphae grow across a food source they release digestive enzymes that break down large organic molecules into smaller molecules.
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How Fungi Feed Most Fungi are saprophytes which means they break down matter and play a vital role in recycling nutrients. As hyphae grow across a food source they release digestive enzymes that break down large organic molecules into smaller molecules. Fungi use extracellular digestion which means that digestion of food occurs outside the body of the fungus. - Smaller molecules are diffused into the fungus where they are used for growth and repair.
Some fungi are parasites of plants and animals and cause diseases. Parasitic fungi are specialized to feed off living cells. • Hyphae called haustoria ( meaning to drink) are produced, and they are designed to penetrate the host cell without killing it. • Some parasitic fungi feed on plants and some feel on animals. • The Cordycpesmyrmecophila fungi feeds on ants, if a spore lands on an ant it germinates then spreads the fungus through the ants body like a cancer while the fungus eats all of the ants tissues.
Symbiotic Fungi • A large population of fungi live in symbiotic relationships with plants or animals, which is benificial to both species. • A common example of this is trees that have fungi living in close contact with their roots, otherwise known as mycorrhiza (fungus root) • In this situation, threadlike hyphae grow from fungus and enter the root cells. • The hyphae then releases minerals that it absorbed from the soil, into the roots, which provides nutrients to the tree. • Fungus also benefits from this process because they absorb organic nutrients for themselves as well.
How Fungi Reproduce - Many fungi have both asexual and sexual methods of reproduction. • The simplest asexual method is fragmentation where pieces of hyphae are broken off and grow into new mycelia. • As an adaption to living on land most fungi produce using spores. Which are windblown reproduction cells that help the fungi spread. • To further increase their chances of survival and dispersal spores are produced in large numbers. One puffball can produce as many as 1 trillion spores. • Spores can grow directly into new orgamisms. • Spores can be asexual and sexual. This is one of the key ways that scientists classify fungi.
