Midterm 1 (Lectures 1-8) Flashcards
How do fungi break down dead matter and why is this beneficial to life on Earth?
Fungi possess enzymes that ooze out of the fungus body and uncouple the bonds that hold organic molecules together. Then absorbed through the walls of the fungal cell.
-Plants that have been alive for a long time used alot of minerals that other plants need to servive, fungi recycle these minerals so that there is enough to go around
Fungus decompose dead plants so the debris does not crowd the earth
-Decomposes animal waste so that it does not crowd the environment
How did people perceive mushrooms prior to when the scientific community first began
researching fungi?
Viewed as work of evil spirits, witches, or the devil.
Are fungi plants? Are fungi animals? Why or why not?
Not plants-
no chlorophyll,
cannot make their own food,
food digested outside of the body then absorbed,
simple cell structure (no roots or shoots),
Not animals-
animals can move around,
do not have walls surrounding their cells
food is eating plants or one another
When did the fungi receive their own kingdom?
When Leeuwenhoek and Hook used microscopes, in the 19th century, facts made it clear that fungi were very separate from plants and animals and deserved a kingdom of there own.
Fungi kingdom created in 1784.
What advent allowed the classification scheme of Dr. Carl Woese to arise?
New technology enabled scientist to decode the genetic material that makes us all different from one another.
Woese suggest three domains where similar (humans and fungi equal partners on parallel roads)
What three domains did Dr. Carl Woese suggest from which the living world evolved?
Archaea, bacteria, eucarya
How do the features of the fungus body separate it from other kingdoms and domains?
Cells with nuclei
Walls of chitin
Heterotrophic (cannot make there own food)
No division of cells into various organs
Reproduce by way of spores (conidia)
No cross-fertilization
How do fungi feed, and where does digestion take place?
Secrete enzymes that digest food outside of the fungi body and then nutrients are absorbed.
How are ascospores and basidiospores produced?
Sexual reproduction through the fusion of tow cells through meiosis leads to 8 ascospores or 4 basidiospores
Why are fungi that result from sexual reproduction better pathogens?
Sexual reproduction allows better adaption to environmental changes because it allows outcrossing allowing adaptions such as tolerance to fungisides
How might the size and shape of a fungal spore help it ‘get around’?
very small with a flagella that helps it swim
What two features form the basis of classification and naming of fungi?
- The structure of reproductive bodies
- How spores are produced
Who is largely responsible for the modern taxonomic system?
Carolus Linnaeus
Who were some of the important mycologists in history, and what fungi did they study?
Fries- fleshy fungus (mushrooms and lichens)
Persoon- rusts and smuts (corn)
Lloyed- large fungi (puffballs)
Who is known as “the grand old man of mycology?”
Fries
Who created the pseudonym Professor N.J. McGinty and why?
Lloyed
Said that have names attached to fungus was stupid and used this false name to attach to several of the fungi that he discovered
** How do plant pathologists distinguish between similar species of fungi that grow on different plant hosts?
Forma specialis
Race
**What are the four major fungal phyla, and what makes them unique?
Chrytodiomycota (only fungi with swimming spores, predominetly in aquatic habitats)
Zygomycota (asex reproduction in clumped packets, weed-like)
Ascomycota (red mold, holes inbetween cells, asex stages are common)
Basidiomycota (mushs/puffballs/rusts/hyphea have specialized gates between cells)
Who are the Oomycetes?
Look alot like fungi,
hyphae without crosswalls,
reproduce asexually by way of zoospores and sexually by fusion of nuclei (meiosis) to produce oospores
(these are the fungi like organisms that infected potatoes and caused the potato famine)
Name one feature that distinguishes fungi from other multicellular organisms.
Virtually all growth occurs by way of elongation of hyphal tips
How does the use of mycotoxins and antibiotics benefit a fungus?
They discourage potential competitors from getting more than their share of the available food.
Why do fungi tend to grow in a circular fashion?
To maximize there chances of finding nourishment
How do fungi reproduce?
Sexually and asexually.
Why might fungi that reproduce sexually pose a problem to people trying to develop anti-‐fungal
agents?
Because it allows for rapid evolution of new strains of a given species.
**Describe how a new fungus forms from a single cell.
What is a bioluminescent mushroom?
Chemical reactions that yield a light by-product- glow in the dark
-attracts insects that help dislodge spores
**How is bioluminescence advantageous for the fungus?
How might a mushroom react to being kicked over?
It will reorient its gills accordingly- thinner stemed mushrooms grow, the cells on the lower side of the stem grow more rapidly allowing the stem to grow upward and mantain vertical elongation
Explain the physical features of a meadow mushroom and how the spores are spread.
Gills of fungus tissue, basidiospores on spikes, basidiospores fall from the basidia and drift down between neighboring fills until they are out from under the mushroom cap and able to be blown clear off it
What are sclerotia, and why do fungi produce them?
Hyphae aggregated into a roughly sperical body with thick pigmant wallas to form a protective shell over the living tissue when weather conditions are to hot or cold.
How do Shaggy Manes and other Inky Caps sporulate?
Spores closest to the outside of the gills are wisked away, then enzymes degest the used tissue, which drips away as slimy black liquid, exposing the new generation of spores.
How are sexual spores of Ascomycetes often released?
Ascomycetes have packs of eight spores in sacs. When water pressure from within the cap builds up the tips of the sacs give away and the spores are shot up into the air.
How large is an average fungal spore? How does this affect their dispersal?
Very small- can stay aloft for a very long time.
What are two survival strategies used by fungi to increase the odds of successful spore dispersal?
- Produce large numbers of spores
- Are very small
- Airborn spors have thick cell walls to keep vital contents from drying out
- Dark pigmant to shild from damaging untraviolet light
- Some have spiny cell walss that keep them clumped together (safetly in numbers)
**What characteristics allow some airborne spores to remain aloft indefinitely?
**Describe a couple of ways that water is used as a means of dispersal.
How might fungi attract animals to spread their spores?
Smell attracts insects (like carrying beetles) that fly in and pick up spores and moves spores to knew place to so that fungi can start a new life.
Looks - Makes plant produce a fungal pseudo-flower
Why is the cannonball fungus a problem for homeowners?
-Sticky cannon balls
-You have to strip your house
-Fires spore mass up in the air (up to 14 feet)
How do swimming spores get around?
Whipping action of two filaments that extend from the spores
Where did Spanish explorers first find the potato?
South America- andes Mountains- Icas- peru
Why did Irish peasants favor the potato in the 1800s?
Because they were easy to grow (cut up an eye and plant it) had enough nutritional value to raise strong happy families, can grow on small plots of land.
Why weren’t potatoes accepted in Europe when Spanish explorers first brought them back?
They (including Queen Elizebeth) were eating the leafs of potatoes not the roots which caused indigestion.
What happened to Ireland’s population between 1800 and 1845?
The population nearly doubled from 4.5 to 8 million people