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

Amanita ocreata, commonly known as the death angel, destroying angel or more precisely Western North American destroying angel, is a deadly poisonous basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita. Occurring in the Pacific Northwest and California Floristic Provinces of North America, A. ocreata associates with oak trees. The large fruiting bodies (the mushrooms) generally appear in spring; the cap may be white or ochre and often develops a brownish centre, while the stipe, ring, gill and volva are all white.

Amanita ocreata resemble several edible species commonly consumed by humans, increasing the risk of accidental poisoning. Mature fruiting bodies can be confused with the edible A. velosa, A. lanei or Volvariella speciosa, while immature specimens may be difficult to distinguish from edible Agaricus mushrooms or puffballs. Similar in toxicity to the death cap (A. phalloides) and destroying angels of Europe (A. virosa) and eastern North America (A. bisporigera), it is a potentially deadly fungus responsible for a number of poisonings in California. Its principal toxic constituent, α-amanitin, damages the liver and kidneys, often fatally, and has no known antidote. The initial symptoms are gastrointestinal and include colicky abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting. These subside temporarily after 2–3 days, though ongoing damage to internal organs during this time is common; symptoms of jaundice, diarrhea, delirium, seizures, and coma may follow with death from liver failure 6–16 days post ingestion.

Selected species

Boletus zelleri, commonly known as Zeller's Bolete, is an edible species of mushroom in the family Boletaceae. First described scientifically by American mycologist William Alphonso Murrill in 1912, the species has been juggled by various authors to several genera, including Boletus, Boletellus, and Xerocomus. Found solely in western North America from British Columbia south to Mexico, the fruit bodies are distinguished by their dark reddish brown to nearly black caps with uneven surfaces, the yellow pores on the underside of the caps, and the red-streaked yellow stems. The fungus grows in summer and fall on the ground, often in Douglas fir forests or on their margins. The development of the fruit bodies is gymnocarpic, meaning that the hymenium appears and develops to maturity in an exposed state, not enclosed by any protective membrane.

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

Lycoperdon pyriforme, a species of puffball, growing on a decaying pine log near La Ronge, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Did you know?

... that species in the fungal genus Wynnea (W. americana, pictured) have asci that are capped by a hinged operculum?
... that species in the fungal genus Ameliella have been found in the Skibotn area in central Northern Norway, a hotspot of lichen species diversity?
... that upon coming in contact with an alkali solution, the hairs of the fungus Microstoma floccosum will swell and then dissolve?
... that the grisette is enjoyed by cows?
... that the yellow earth tongue has been described as a fungus one is likely to find while looking for something else?

General images -

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

Image 1Agaricus bisporus, one of the most widely cultivated and consumed mushrooms (from Mushroom)
Image 2Pholiota squarrosa growing at the base of a tree (from Mushroom)
Image 3
Lichen covered rocks
(from Marine fungi)
Image 4Chytrid 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 5Onychomycosis (from Fungal infection)
Image 6Morchella elata asci viewed with phase contrast microscopy (from Mushroom)
Image 7
Driftwood
(from Marine fungi)
Image 8Ferula mushroom in Bingöl, Turkey. This is an edible type of mushroom. (from Mushroom)
Image 9Young Amanita phalloides "death cap" mushrooms, with a matchbox for size comparison (from Mushroom)
Image 10
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 11Maitake, a polypore mushroom (from Mushroom)
Image 12
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 13Pityriasis versicolor (from Fungal infection)
Image 14Coprinopsis atramentaria, commonly known as the "ink cap" (from Mushroom)
Image 15There are over 100 psychoactive mushroom species of genus Psilocybe native to regions all around the world. (from Mushroom)
Image 16
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 17Fungi within Ascomycota form ascogonium and antheridium with trichogyne bridge (from Mating in fungi)
Image 18Workup algorithm of fungal infection at a microbiology lab at a New England community hospital. (from Fungal infection)
Image 19Neurospora 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 20Close-up cross section of mushroom gills (from Mushroom)
Image 21Pennate 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 22A mushroom (probably Russula brevipes) parasitized by Hypomyces lactifluorum resulting in a "lobster mushroom" (from Mushroom)
Image 23Tinea corporis (from Fungal infection)
Image 24Oral candidiasis (from Fungal infection)
Image 25Lycoperdon 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 26Ganoderma lingzhi (from Mushroom)
Image 27
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 28Psilocybe zapotecorum, a hallucinogenic mushroom (from Mushroom)
Image 29A tinder fungus, Fomes fomentarius (from Mushroom)
Image 30Phylogenetic and symbiogenetic tree of living organisms, showing a view of the origins of eukaryotes and prokaryotes (from Marine fungi)
Image 31The photochemistry of vitamin D₂ biosynthesis (from Medicinal uses of fungi)
Image 32Amanita muscaria, a psychotropic mushroom commonly known as "fly agaric" (from Mushroom)
Image 33Mature Mycena leaiana, a kind of Mushroom, in Mount Field National Park. (from Mycology)
Image 34Morphological characteristics of the caps of mushrooms (from Mushroom)
Image 35Agaricus bisporus, a cultivated edible mushroom with various names including "button mushroom", "portobello" and "champignon" (from Mushroom)
Image 36Leucocoprinus birnbaumii, commonly known as the "flowerpot parasol", at various stages of development (from Mushroom)
Image 37Amanita 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 38The red yeast rice fungus, Monascus purpureus, can synthesize three statins. (from Medicinal uses of fungi)
Image 39Typical mating fusion of two compatible monokaryons in Basidiomycota (from Mating in fungi)
Image 40Agaricus bitorquis (the "pavement mushroom") emerging through asphalt concrete in summer (from Mushroom)
Image 41Fungi within Zygomycota form progametangia with suspensors during mating (from Mating in fungi)
Image 42Morphological diversity of fungi collected from a marine sponge species, Ircinia variabilis (from Marine fungi)
Image 43Eumycetoma (from Fungal infection)
Image 44Salmon with fungal disease (from Marine fungi)
Image 45Amanita jacksonii buttons emerging from their universal veils (from Mushroom)
Image 46Group photograph taken at a meeting of the British Mycological Society in 1913 (from Mycology)
Image 47The blue gills of Lactarius indigo, a milk-cap mushroom (from Mushroom)
Image 48Boletus edulis, also known as "cep", an edible wild bolete found in Europe (from Mushroom)