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Many people do not know what exactly is fungus (plural: fungi). Mushrooms, molds and yeasts are the common fungi that we are likely to see surrounding us. They are not a plant, bacteria nor an animal. By means, they have their own kingdom. It is labelled under eukaryotic organisms and is a heterotrophic by absorption process. In the same time, they produce spores instead of pollen, fruit or seed. And, their primary carbohydrate storage product is glycogen.
Kingdom fungi are one of the most important organisms in terms of ecological and economical roles. They gain their nutrients by breaking down dead organic material through ecosystems. They are found all across the Earth including on land, in the water, in the air and sometimes they can be found on plants and animals! They have various of sizes from microscopically small to several meters large. Further more, they cannot actively move around except some specific species.
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Kingdom fungi are one of the most important organisms in terms of ecological and economical roles. They gain their nutrients by breaking down dead organic material through ecosystems. They are found all across the Earth including on land, in the water, in the air and sometimes they can be found on plants and animals! They have various of sizes from microscopically small to several meters large. Further more, they cannot actively move around except some specific species.
Cc: www.wisegeek.org
Overview
Estimated species of macrofungi in tropical Asia are between 10,000 and 25,000 species. (Marler et al., 2007). Chipp (1921) reported 102 Polyporales Species from Malay Peninsular. However, only three main classes of microfungi spore that can be seen by naked eyes (Miller & Lodge, 1997) which are class Zygomycetes, Basidomycetes and Ascomycetes. Reproduction of macrofungi which are asexual and sexual and their life cycle will be discuss in this website also.
There are three phylum in macrofungi which are Basidiomycota, Ascomycota and Zygomycota. Macrofungi are largely distributes in Malaysia’s lowland forest and dipterocarp forest. Most of the fungal diversity is influenced by climatic factors. For examples, the factor of occurrence of fungi in mangrove area includes include salinity, temperature, wood species and location within the mangrove area (Alias et al., 1995). According to Dube (2007) diversity of fungi are more higher compared to the diversity of plants as fungi has cosmopolitan distribution. They are dispersed by wind, rain or animals.
They also involve in nutrient uptake and nutrient cycling. Macrofungi can interact with surrounding by endophytes, saprobes, pathogens and mutualistics. They bring advantages and disadvantages to organisms in earth. For example, some mushrooms are poisonous to human and others can be used as medicine while some mushrooms are edible where we can consume and use them in our cooking. They contain carbohydrate and protein. Other than that, edible mushrooms contribute economic value to our country too. Mushrooms are the sources of income in Malaysia also as some mushrooms are import to other countries.
There are three phylum in macrofungi which are Basidiomycota, Ascomycota and Zygomycota. Macrofungi are largely distributes in Malaysia’s lowland forest and dipterocarp forest. Most of the fungal diversity is influenced by climatic factors. For examples, the factor of occurrence of fungi in mangrove area includes include salinity, temperature, wood species and location within the mangrove area (Alias et al., 1995). According to Dube (2007) diversity of fungi are more higher compared to the diversity of plants as fungi has cosmopolitan distribution. They are dispersed by wind, rain or animals.
They also involve in nutrient uptake and nutrient cycling. Macrofungi can interact with surrounding by endophytes, saprobes, pathogens and mutualistics. They bring advantages and disadvantages to organisms in earth. For example, some mushrooms are poisonous to human and others can be used as medicine while some mushrooms are edible where we can consume and use them in our cooking. They contain carbohydrate and protein. Other than that, edible mushrooms contribute economic value to our country too. Mushrooms are the sources of income in Malaysia also as some mushrooms are import to other countries.
Common characteristics of Macrofungal species
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Fungi are made up of individual filaments called hyphae. The hyphae then group together to form mycelium. You may notice when you cut a mushroom, it has a spongy feel. This is because it is actually made up of a mass of very tightly packed hyphae which means it is not exactly solid. Fungi cell walls are made up of chitin, unlike cell walls of plants which are made up of cellulose.
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Nur Atikah bt Abd Rashid Nurfarahayu binti Yusof Saw Wei Ling |