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Terrestrial fungi play critical roles in nutrient cycling and food webs and can shape macroorganism communities as parasites and mutualists. Although estimates for the number of fungal species on the planet range from 1.5 to over 5 million, likely fewer than 10% of fungi have been identified so far.
Amanita muscaria (fly agaric), an iconic mushroom Large agaric s, or other fleshy fungi such as bolete s. Commonly divided into mushrooms (human-edible) and toadstools (inedible). [251] myc-mycet-, myceto-, myco-Combining prefixes that mean "fungus". From Gr. mykēs and mykētos , fungus. [252] mycelial cord A discrete aggregation of hyphae.
White threads of fungal mycelium are sometimes visible underneath leaf litter in a forest floor. A mycorrhizal network (also known as a common mycorrhizal network or CMN) is an underground network found in forests and other plant communities, created by the hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi joining with plant roots. This network connects individual ...
Mycelium is an important food source for many soil invertebrates. They are vital to agriculture and are important to almost all species of plants, many species co-evolving with the fungi. Mycelium is a primary factor in some plants' health, nutrient intake and growth, with mycelium being a major factor to plant fitness.
Prototaxites / ˌ p r oʊ t oʊ ˈ t æ k s ɪ t iː z / is an extinct genus of terrestrial fungi dating from the Late Silurian until the Late Devonian periods. [1] [2] Prototaxites formed large trunk-like structures up to 1 metre (3 ft) wide, reaching 8 metres (26 ft) in length, [3] made up of interwoven tubes around 50 micrometres (0.0020 in) in diameter, making it by far the largest land ...
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').
For much of the Paleozoic Era (542–251 Ma), the fungi appear to have been aquatic and consisted of organisms similar to the extant Chytrids in having flagellum-bearing spores. [14] Phylogenetic analyses suggest that the flagellum was lost early in the evolutionary history of the fungi, and consequently, the majority of fungal species lack a ...
[1] [2] Studies have shown high protist diversity exists in oceans, deep sea-vents and river sediments, suggesting large numbers of eukaryotic microbial communities have yet to be discovered. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] There has been little research on mixotrophic protists, but recent studies in marine environments found mixotrophic protists contribute a ...