BIOL 211 Chapter Notes - Chapter 32: Saprotrophic Nutrition, Archaea, Motility
27 Sep 2016
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Fungi: because they recycle key elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus and because they transfer key nutrients to plants and animals, fungi have a profound influence on ecosystem productivity and biodiversity. Analyzing morphological traits: the nature of the fungal mycelium. Mycelia constantly grow in the direction of food sources and die back in areas where food is running out. The body shape of a fungus can change almost continuously throughout its life: the nature of hyphae. Fungal mycelia can penetrate tiny fissures in soil and absorb nutrients that are inaccessible to plant roots. Because mycelia are composed of complex, branching networks of extremely thin hyphae, fungi have the highest surface-area-to-volume ratios observed in multicellular organisms and are therefore the best at absorption. Evaluating molecular phylogenies: fungi are closely related to animals. In addition to dna sequence data, three key morphological traits link animals and fungi: Most animals and fungi synthesize the tough structural material called chitin.
