Portal:Fungi

The Fungi Portal

A fungus is any member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. The Fungi are classified as a kingdom that is separate from plants and animals. The discipline of biology devoted to the study of fungi is known as mycology or fungal biology, which is historically regarded as a branch of botany, even though genetic studies have shown that fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants. Fungi reproduce via spores and grow as hyphae, mycelia, and further specialized structures. Fungal spores are often produced on specialized structures or in fruiting bodies, such as the head of a mushroom. Abundant worldwide, most fungi are mostly invisible to the naked eye because of the small size of their structures, and their cryptic lifestyles in soil, on dead matter, and as symbionts of plants, animals, or other fungi. Fungi perform an essential role in the decomposition of organic matter and have fundamental roles in nutrient cycling and exchange. They have long been used as a direct source of food, such as mushrooms and truffles, as a leavening agent for bread, and in fermentation of various food products, such as wine, beer, and soy sauce.

Since the 1940s, fungi have been used for the production of antibiotics, and, more recently, various enzymes produced by fungi are used industrially and in detergents. Fungi are also used as biological agents to control weeds and pests. Many species produce bioactive compounds called mycotoxins, such as alkaloids and polyketides, that are toxic to animals including humans. The fruiting structures of a few species are consumed recreationally or in traditional ceremonies as a source of psychotropic compounds. Fungi can break down manufactured materials and buildings, and become significant pathogens of humans and other animals. Losses of crops due to fungal diseases or food spoilage can have a large impact on human food supplies and local economies. Despite their importance on human affairs, little is known of the true biodiversity of Kingdom Fungi, which has been estimated at around 1.5 million species, with about 5% of these having been formally classified.

More about fungi...

Selected article

Armillaria luteobubalina, commonly known as the Australian honey fungus, is a species of mushroom in the family Physalacriaceae. Widely distributed in southern Australia, the fungus is responsible for a disease known as Armillaria root rot, a primary cause of Eucalyptus tree death and forest dieback. It is the most pathogenic and widespread of the six Armillaria species found in Australia. The fungus has also been collected in Argentina and Chile. Fruit bodies have cream- to tan-coloured caps that grow up to 10 cm (4 in) in diameter and stems that measure up to 20 cm (8 in) long by 1.5 cm (1 in) thick. The fruit bodies, which appear at the base of infected trees and other woody plants in autumn (March–April), are edible, but require cooking to remove the bitter taste. The fungus is dispersed through spores produced on gills on the underside of the caps, and also by growing vegetatively through the root systems of host trees. The ability of the fungus to spread vegetatively is facilitated by an aerating system that allows it to efficiently diffuse oxygen through rhizomorphs—rootlike structures made of dense masses of hyphae.

Armillaria luteobubalina was first described in 1978, after having been discovered several years earlier growing in a Eucalyptus plantation in southeastern Australia. It distinguished itself from other known Australian Armillaria species by its aggressive pathogenicity. It may take years for infected trees to show signs of disease, leading to an underestimation of disease prevalence. Studies show that the spread of disease in eucalypt forests is associated with infected stumps left following logging operations. Although several methods have been suggested to control the spread of disease, they are largely economically or environmentally unfeasible. Phylogenetic analyses have determined that A. luteobubalina is closely related to A. montagnei and that both of these species are in turn closely related to the Brazilian species A. paulensis. The distribution of A. luteobubalina suggests that it is an ancient species that originated before the separation of the precursor supercontinent Gondwana.

Selected species

Lactarius vietus (commonly known as the grey milkcap) is a species of fungus in the family Russulaceae, first described by Elias Magnus Fries. It produces moderately sized and brittle mushrooms, which grow on the forest floor or on rotting wood. The flattened-convex cap can vary in shape, sometimes forming the shape of a wide funnel. It is typically grey, but the colour varies. The species has crowded, light-coloured gills, which produce white milk. The spore print is typically whitish, but also varies considerably. The mushrooms typically have a strong, acrid taste and have been described as inedible, but other authors have described them as consumable after boiling. L. vietus feeds by forming an ectomycorrhizal relationship with surrounding trees, and it favours birch. It grows in autumn months and is fairly common in Europe, North America and eastern Asia.

Things to do

If you want to help Wikipedia to improve its coverage of fungi, here are some things you can do...

Assess some fungi articles.
Join Wikipedia:WikiProject Fungi or ask on the talk page.
Join the lichen task force.
Review, improve, expand or clean some of the newly created fungi-related articles.
Expand some high priority fungus stubs.
Expand or sort other fungi-related stubs.
Add images to articles in the list of unillustrated fungi articles, or add more articles to the list.
Write fungi-related articles from scratch. For ideas of needed articles, see the redlinks on-
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Fungi/List of unwritten articles (high priority)
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Missing encyclopedic articles/Skysmith's list of missing articles/Biology/Fungi
- Members of Category:Lists of fungal species
Review the fungi articles flagged as needing attention.

WikiProjects

WikiProjects related to fungi:

WikiProject Science
- WikiProject Biology
  - WikiProject Tree of Life
    - WikiProject Fungi
WikiProject Medicine
WikiProject Food

What are WikiProjects?

Selected picture

The highly reticulate cap surface of Rhodotus palmatus, the wrinkled peach mushroom.

Did you know?

... that the fungus Helvella corium has been found growing on caustic spoil mounds of a soda factory and on uranium tailings?
... that the fungus Helvella acetabulum resembles a cabbage leaf?
... that extracts from the elastic saddle fungus can dissolve fibrin blood clots?
... that the powdery mildew fungus Phyllactinia guttata has gelatinous filaments thought to help it adhere to leaves?
... that the "Devil's Cigar" is a mushroom found only in Texas and Japan?

General images -

The following are images from various fungi-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1
Mycoloop links between phytoplankton and zooplankton
Chytrid‐mediated trophic links between phytoplankton and zooplankton (mycoloop). While small phytoplankton species can be grazed upon by zooplankton, large phytoplankton species constitute poorly edible or even inedible prey. Chytrid infections on large phytoplankton can induce changes in palatability, as a result of host aggregation (reduced edibility) or mechanistic fragmentation of cells or filaments (increased palatability). First, chytrid parasites extract and repack nutrients and energy from their hosts in form of readily edible zoospores. Second, infected and fragmented hosts including attached sporangia can also be ingested by grazers (i.e. concomitant predation). (from Marine fungi)
Image 2Agaricus bisporus, one of the most widely cultivated and consumed mushrooms (from Mushroom)
Image 3
Role of fungi in ocean carbon sequestration
This representation includes the traditionally neglected pelagic fungi, both parasitic and saprotrophic, highlighting the central role played by them, parasitic fungi in the mycoloop, and saprotrophic fungi as active contributors to the microbial loop. As depicted by this diagram, the activity of heterotrophic microbes, including pelagic fungi, has far-reaching global implications for fisheries (i.e., the amount of carbon that will ultimately flow to higher trophic levels) and climate change (i.e., the amount of carbon that will be sequestered in the ocean or respired back to CO₂ and the release of other greenhouse gases; e.g., N₂O). (from Marine fungi)
Image 4Eumycetoma (from Fungal infection)
Image 5Amanita muscaria, a psychotropic mushroom commonly known as "fly agaric" (from Mushroom)
Image 6Morphological characteristics of the caps of mushrooms (from Mushroom)
Image 7
Driftwood
(from Marine fungi)
Image 8Ganoderma lingzhi (from Mushroom)
Image 9
Roles of fungi in the marine carbon cycle
Roles of fungi in the marine carbon cycle by processing phytoplankton-derived organic matter. Parasitic fungi, as well as saprotrophic fungi, directly assimilate phytoplankton organic carbon. By releasing zoospores, the fungi bridge the trophic linkage to zooplankton, known as the mycoloop. By modifying the particulate and dissolved organic carbon, they can affect bacteria and the microbial loop. These processes may modify marine snow chemical composition and the subsequent functioning of the biological carbon pump. (from Marine fungi)
Image 10Psilocybe zapotecorum, a hallucinogenic mushroom (from Mushroom)
Image 11Fungi within Zygomycota form progametangia with suspensors during mating (from Mating in fungi)
Image 12Maitake, a polypore mushroom (from Mushroom)
Image 13Onychomycosis (from Fungal infection)
Image 14Pennate diatom from an Arctic meltpond, infected with two chytrid-like [zoo-]sporangium fungal pathogens (in false-colour red). Scale bar = 10 μm. (from Marine fungi)
Image 15Young Amanita phalloides "death cap" mushrooms, with a matchbox for size comparison (from Mushroom)
Image 16There are over 100 psychoactive mushroom species of genus Psilocybe native to regions all around the world. (from Mushroom)
Image 17Boletus edulis, also known as "cep", an edible wild bolete found in Europe (from Mushroom)
Image 18Fungi within Ascomycota form ascogonium and antheridium with trichogyne bridge (from Mating in fungi)
Image 19
Diagram of a mycoloop (fungus loop)
Parasitic chytrids can transfer material from large inedible phytoplankton to zooplankton. Chytrids zoospores are excellent food for zooplankton in terms of size (2–5 μm in diameter), shape, nutritional quality (rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and cholesterols). Large colonies of host phytoplankton may also be fragmented by chytrid infections and become edible to zooplankton. (from Marine fungi)
Image 20Close-up cross section of mushroom gills (from Mushroom)
Image 21Morphological diversity of fungi collected from a marine sponge species, Ircinia variabilis (from Marine fungi)
Image 22Lycoperdon perlatum (the "common puffball") has a glebal hymenium; when young, the interior is white, but it becomes brown containing powdery spores as the fungus matures. (from Mushroom)
Image 23Amanita jacksonii buttons emerging from their universal veils (from Mushroom)
Image 24Coprinopsis atramentaria, commonly known as the "ink cap" (from Mushroom)
Image 25Group photograph taken at a meeting of the British Mycological Society in 1913 (from Mycology)
Image 26Mature Mycena leaiana, a kind of Mushroom, in Mount Field National Park. (from Mycology)
Image 27The blue gills of Lactarius indigo, a milk-cap mushroom (from Mushroom)
Image 28Salmon with fungal disease (from Marine fungi)
Image 29Tinea corporis (from Fungal infection)
Image 30A mushroom (probably Russula brevipes) parasitized by Hypomyces lactifluorum resulting in a "lobster mushroom" (from Mushroom)
Image 31Chytrid parasites of marine diatoms. (A) Chytrid sporangia on Pleurosigma sp. The white arrow indicates the operculate discharge pore. (B) Rhizoids (white arrow) extending into diatom host. (C) Chlorophyll aggregates localized to infection sites (white arrows). (D and E) Single hosts bearing multiple zoosporangia at different stages of development. The white arrow in panel E highlights branching rhizoids. (F) Endobiotic chytrid-like sporangia within diatom frustule. Bars = 10 μm. (from Marine fungi)
Image 32Amanita muscaria, the most easily recognised "toadstool", is frequently depicted in fairy stories and on greeting cards. It is often associated with gnomes. (from Mushroom)
Image 33Agaricus bitorquis (the "pavement mushroom") emerging through asphalt concrete in summer (from Mushroom)
Image 34Neurospora crassa life cycle. The haploid mycelium reproduces asexually by two processes: (1) simple proliferation of existing mycelium, and (2) formation of conidia (macro- and micro-) which can be dispersed and then germinate to produce new mycelium. In the sexual cycle, mating can only occur between individual strains of different mating type, A and a. Fertilization occurs by the passage of nuclei of conidia or mycelium of one mating type into the protoperithecia of the opposite mating type through the trichogyne. Fusion of the nuclei of opposite mating types occurs within the protoperithecium to form a zygote (2N) nucleus. (from Mating in fungi)
Image 35Typical mating fusion of two compatible monokaryons in Basidiomycota (from Mating in fungi)
Image 36
Lichen covered rocks
(from Marine fungi)
Image 37Pholiota squarrosa growing at the base of a tree (from Mushroom)
Image 38Ferula mushroom in Bingöl, Turkey. This is an edible type of mushroom. (from Mushroom)
Image 39Phylogenetic and symbiogenetic tree of living organisms, showing a view of the origins of eukaryotes and prokaryotes (from Marine fungi)
Image 40Oral candidiasis (from Fungal infection)
Image 41A tinder fungus, Fomes fomentarius (from Mushroom)
Image 42Leucocoprinus birnbaumii, commonly known as the "flowerpot parasol", at various stages of development (from Mushroom)
Image 43Morchella elata asci viewed with phase contrast microscopy (from Mushroom)
Image 44Workup algorithm of fungal infection at a microbiology lab at a New England community hospital. (from Fungal infection)
Image 45The red yeast rice fungus, Monascus purpureus, can synthesize three statins. (from Medicinal uses of fungi)
Image 46The photochemistry of vitamin D₂ biosynthesis (from Medicinal uses of fungi)
Image 47Agaricus bisporus, a cultivated edible mushroom with various names including "button mushroom", "portobello" and "champignon" (from Mushroom)
Image 48Pityriasis versicolor (from Fungal infection)