CHAPTER 16: Fungi
16.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF FUNGI
- Natural Perspective: Fungus Kingdom
- Visit these pages to find photographs and information on the characteristics of different types of fungi.
- Introduction to the Fungi
- Get a good look at the fungus clan, from their fossil record to their life history to their morphology (physical characteristics). These pages also link to a section on the relationships of the fungus divisions, which also describes the lichens, a symbiotic colony of fungus and cyanobacteria.
16.2 ORIGIN AND DIVERSITY OF FUNGI
- The Tree of Life: Fungi
- Get an overview of the entire fungal kingdom, see how the
divisions of fungi are related, then access detailed information
on the club and sac fungi. You will find information about life
cycles, reproduction, habitat, and phylogeny at this branch of
The Tree of Life, a project of the University of Arizona.
- WWW Virtual Library: Mycology
- Here you will find a wide variety of fungal links, from skin
infections to the Irish Potato Famine to mushroom collecting.
This page is hosted by Cornell University.
- Agaricales of the Hawaiian Islands
- How many of these club fungi were introduced to this Pacific
island chain? What's the most prolific club family in Hawaii?
What do they look like and where are they found? This National
Science Foundation project documented 255 species of club fungi
in Hawaii.
16.3 FUNGI IN THE BIOSPHERE
- Lichen Land
- If you can describe a lichen, you are likely to find it at
LichenLand Lite, a database of lichens organized by the characteristics
of lichens. Learn how algae and fungi combine.
- Mushroom Toxins
- Although many mushrooms are edible, there are some that should
never be eaten. Learn about the Destroying Angel and other killer
mushrooms from this Food and Drug Administration page. See the
page on aflatoxins
to learn about a fungus sometimes associated with peanuts and
what it can do to you.
- Introduction to the Cereal Disease Laboratory
- Learn the history of cereal rusts, dating back to Aristotle,
then read more about the rusts that strike wheat, oat, and barley.
This information comes from the Cereal Disease Laboratory,
a research center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms
- This site contains beautiful illustrations of mushrooms,
from delicious morels to the huge puffball to the deadly Destroying
Angel. It was created and posted by the Conservation Commission
of the State of Missouri to help citizens avoid mushroom poisoning.
The best advice to avoid poisoning, however, is to not pick mushrooms
yourself.
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