How many fungus species

The asexual phase of the life cycle is known as the anamorph, while the sexual stage of the fungus is known as the teleomorph. Sexual reproduction involves the union of two compatible fungal nuclei followed by meiotic division. Nonmotile spores are the characteristic agents of fungal reproduction and are typically dry and very small. This enables them to remain floating in the air for long periods of time, thus increasing their chances of being carried to great heights and distances by air currents.

Other spores are slimy and stick to the bodies of arthropods, like insects, to aid in their dispersal. Some spores are fired off in a sporangium and may travel distances of up to 2 meters, which is a huge distance considering the sporangia are only 80 micrometers in diameter.

Fungi, together with bacteria, are decomposers, and their activities are necessary for the continued existence of the biosphere. Decomposition releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and returns nitrogenous compounds to the soil where they can be recycled by plants and eventually animals. Since fungi are decomposers, they often come in conflict with human interests and are considered a nuisance, in some cases, a destructive hazard.

Fungus can break down human-made wooden structures with their powerful enzymes as well as many other substances e. Bread, fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat are particularly susceptible to fungal attack reducing nutritional value and palatability.

Fungus may also produce toxins such as aflatoxin, which is highly carcinogenic and severely affects humans even when minute amounts are consumed. Certain fungal yeasts are useful because they produce substances such as ethanol or carbon dioxide that play a key role in the brewing, baking, and wine-making industries.

Fungi are also important in producing many kinds of medicines. The most important of these are antibiotics, like penicillin, which is used to kill bacterial infections. Topic Editor "Fungi". In: Encyclopedia of Earth.

While some make fruit bodies think mushrooms annually, others might only do so every few years, and some might never produce anything we can see without a microscope. Imagine that two fungi were about the same color and shape and had similar-looking spores. They likely would have been grouped together for taxonomy purposes based on those observations and other factors such as their biochemistry. Fast forward to today and we can now sample the DNA of these same fungi.

It could well be that at the genetic level the two are very different from each other. Now, new species descriptions for fungi typically require both DNA sequences ideally from several different sections of their DNA and their morphological descriptions. How these differences are classified can have a huge influence on how many types of fungi we think exist.

May, L. Majuakim, D. Lodge, S. Lee, K. Larsson, P. Kohout, K. Hosaka, I. Hiiesalu, T. Henkel, H. Harend, L. Guo, A. Greslebin, G. Grelet, J. Geml, G. Gates, W. Dunstan, C. Dunk, R. Drenkhan, J. Dearnaley, A. De Kesel, T. Dang, X. Chen, F. Buegger, F. Brearley, G. Conclusions: Fungi are essential to the survival of many groups of organisms with which they form associations. They also attract attention as predators of invertebrate animals, pathogens of potatoes and rice and humans and bats, killers of frogs and crayfish, producers of secondary metabolites to lower cholesterol, and subjects of prize-winning research.

Molecular tools in use and under development can be used to discover the world's unknown fungi in less than years predicted at current new species acquisition rates.