Fungi also known as Mycelium are eukaryotic organisms. Fungi can be single or multi-cellular organisms. Don't get all grossed out, but most of the things you eat have some sort of fungi in it like bread, wine, and solvents. Believe it or not fungi are not plants. Living things are classified into kingdoms.
For a very long period of time fungi were considered plants because they have cell walls, and made of chitin, but scientists observed that they are more like animals, but with a little twist. Fungi are more chemically and genetically similar to animals so scientist made a kingdom just for fungi. Fungi are very important to the earth since they rot dead and rotting plants and animals. Without them we would have dead stuff all over the place They also give nutrients to plants and plants, in turn, give nutrients to us. Fungi cause some diseases such as Ringworm, and Athlete's Foot.
The Kingdom Fungi is subdivided on their life cycles, fruiting body, the arrangement,and the types and kinds of spores. They are 3 main groups, multi-cellular molds, mushrooms, and single celled microscopic yeast. Molds are made of very fine threads(hyphen).Digestive enzymes are at the tip of the hyphen,these enzymes break down dead and rotting stuff, but all of this is underground so it is not visible.Mushrooms, these are the most familiar ones to everyone, the ones that you love to step on. Yeast are small single cell organisms about the size of red blood cells.They multiply by splitting of a daughter cell from the parent cell. There are small scars on the parent cell from spitting itself.
In conclusion, all living and dead things need fungi. They decompose dead and rotting things for our health and the health of animals worldwide.
References:
"Fungi." Microbiology Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.
"Introduction to the Fungi." Introduction to the Fungi. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.
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