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The English word fungus is directly adopted from the Latin fungus (mushroom), used in the writings of Horace and Pliny. [10] This in turn is derived from the Greek word sphongos (σφόγγος 'sponge'), which refers to the macroscopic structures and morphology of mushrooms and molds; [11] the root is also used in other languages, such as the German Schwamm ('sponge') and Schimmel ('mold').
Approximately 66 million years ago, immediately after the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) extinction, there was a dramatic increase in evidence of fungi. Fungi appear to have had the chance to flourish due to the extinction of most plant and animal species, and the resultant fungal bloom has been described as like "a massive compost heap". [38]
A life form (also spelled life-form or lifeform) is an entity that is living, [1] [2] such as plants , animals , and fungi . It is estimated that more than 99% of all species that ever existed on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, [3] are extinct. [4] [5] Earth is the only celestial body known to harbor life forms. No form of ...
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. [1] Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and infection.
Many fungi are parasitic, often causing disease to their living host plant, although some have beneficial relationships with living plants, as illustrated below. In terms of soil and humus creation, the most important fungi tend to be saprotrophic ; that is, they live on dead or decaying organic matter, thus breaking it down and converting it ...
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More recently, scholars have added a third type of interaction, where living things, whether animals, [6] plants, [7] fungi or microbes function as participants. This makes the relationships bidirectional, explicitly implying various forms of symbiosis in a complex ecology.
Free-living microfungi often function as decomposers, and contribute to soil microbial biomass. Many microfungi in biological soil crusts have adapted to the intense light conditions by evolving the ability to produce melanin, and are called black fungi or black yeasts. Fungal hyphae can bind soil particles together.