Why Did Fungi Have In Common

Why was the mushroom invited to so many parties? Because he was a fungi! Mushrooms are a type of fungus, along with puffballs, truffles, molds, and yeasts. There are about 200,000 different types of fungi that have been discovered in many different environments, including forests, lakes, rivers, oceans, and deserts. Some have even been found growing on space shuttles in orbit. Fungi are thought to be about 400 million years old. The study of fungi is called mycology, which is a branch of biology.
Fungi are not plants or animals. Like plant and animal cells, fungus cells are eukaryotic, meaning they have a defined nucleus. Like plants, fungi are sessile, or unmoving. Their cells are similar to plant cells, but do not contain chloroplasts. This
Unicellular fungi, such as yeasts, live in colonies with millions of other single cells. Multicellular fungi form long, very thin chains called hyphae. The singular of hyphae is hypha. A network of hyphae is called a mycelium, which form the body of the fungus.
Fungi get nutrients in different ways, although always from absorbing nutrients from their surroundings. Some are called Saprobes or Saprophytes, which means that they break down dead organisms and substances containing organic compounds. These are the fungi that most people think of first. These are useful because they can decompose organic material, but they can be harmful since they can damage wood products and spoil foods. “During the American Revolution[,] the wooden warships of the British had more damage done to them by hungry fungi than by the colonists’ cannons” (Souza, What is a Fungus?)
Another type of fungi get nourishment through symbiosis. Symbiosis is when one living thing builds a relationship with another for mutual survival. An example of this is a lichen. Some fungi grow with an alga. These partnerships are called lichen. The fungus shares the food that the alga produces through photosynthesis, while the alga is protected by living inside of the fungus. An example of a lichen is called Old Man’s Beard, which hangs from tree
Many mushrooms produce spores, which are tiny structures like seeds that can spread genetic material and grow into new fungi. Spores are found in pink folds called gills under the cap of the mushroom. But that is not the only way that fungi reproduce.
Club fungi is a group that contains most familiar mushrooms. They bear spores on microscopic club shaped structures.
Sac fungi form spores inside little sac-shaped structures. They look like shallow cups or globes, and are held within tightly woven strands of hyphae. Truffles are an example of sac fungi.
Zygomycetes are spore sacs that grow on top of stalked hyphae. These include bread molds. For bread mold, the mycelium produce spore sacs called sporangia on top of stalks. When the sacs break open, thousands of spores are released into the air. Because the spores are so tiny, the air currents can carry them great distances. If they land somewhere with the proper conditions, they will begin to grow into new hyphae and mycelium.
There are other fungi, known as imperfect fungi, that cannot be placed in any of the aforementioned groups because it is unknown how they produce spores. The fungus that causes athlete's foot is an example of an imperfect