What are the common signs of fungi and how do they differ from plants and animals?

For quite a long time mushrooms were referred to plants. They were characterized as inferior, not having chlorophyll. This happened because such signs of fungi as immobility, the ability to grow throughout life, the way of feeding, the presence of a solid shell in the cell, allowed scientists to draw an appropriate conclusion about the belonging of these creatures of nature to lower plants. But in the 1970s and 1980s, in science, their separation into a separate kingdom numbered more than one hundred thousand species. And some scientists suggest that in fact, the species of fungi are much larger, they just are not all open by man. About what are the common signs of fungi, what properties are most characteristic for them and try to tell about many other interesting things in this article.

Mycology

The science that studies their life and activities and what common signs of fungi are called mycology. By tradition, it is considered a division of botany (previously the fungi as plants were studied by botanists). At the beginning of the 21st century, thus, the term "mushrooms" itself became not quite unambiguous, uniting organisms of different structure and type .

A great many

In the nature of these creatures - a truly great diversity, both biological and ecological. Mushrooms can be seen everywhere: on land, in the air, and in water. And according to the estimates of various specialists-mycologists there are from 100 thousand to a million species of fungi and mushroom-like organisms. They have become a significant part of the whole ecological systems of the planet. Our entire world is literally permeated by these creatures of nature: from the smallest controversy in the air to the mycelium, stretching underground for miles. By the way, according to researchers, the largest creature on Earth is a fungus! What are the common signs of fungi with a rather large variety of them: from the almost invisible spores to the fungus-mushrooms, having a weight of more than 10 kilograms? Let's analyze it together.

Characteristics typical of mushrooms

As already mentioned, mushrooms contain the signs of both plants and animals. That is, they have a similarity to both the animal and the plant world, without being either. These qualities of fungi and mushroom-like organisms and allowed them to separate them into a separate kingdom of nature.

Means of Nutrition

Mushrooms are heterotrophs. This means that they do not synthesize organic matter, but use it as food in ready-made form. This brings them closer to animals. Many hatched mushrooms, for example, carry out a kind of symbiosis with plants: a mutually beneficial cooperation, as a result of which they receive the dead organic from plants, feeding in this way and decomposing organic substances into inorganic ones, utilizing them. And the plants, in turn, receive these minerals from the fungi as food. So, the common signs of fungi include, first of all, heterotrophy. In general, by methods of nutrition, some fungi can be parasites, and even predators. Parasites-fungi are introduced into the foreign body through damage. Sometimes they can cause even the death of their master, and feed on what remains of him - dead organic. And predators of the fungal kingdom catch amoebae and nematodes with the help of special sticky thickenings on hyphae.

No chlorophyll

Mushrooms are not capable of photosynthesis, as are the same plants. They do not contain chlorophyll in the cells. What are the common signs of fungi? The structure of their cells includes chitin (characteristic, for example, for the skeletons of arthropods). And these creatures are able to store carbohydrates (glycogen), and the final product of metabolism from the body - to withdraw. And these common signs of fungi also bring them closer to animals.

Immobility and growth

Mushrooms are not able to move the way animals do. In a sense, they are immobile (of course, if we do not take into account the mycelium, which is able to move, growing under the ground, sometimes for many kilometers). In addition, they all their lives grow and multiply by spores, as do many plants. And they feed by absorption and synthesize hormones with vitamins, which also brings them closer to plants.

Difference in origin

But despite many similarities, the scientists found out that the fungi and plants originate from various groups of ancient microorganisms that lived in the water environment in immemorial times. And these two kingdoms differ in their evolutionary path.

What are the common signs of fungi?

At a certain similarity with plants and animals, mushrooms have only their inherent features. The vegetative body of the organism is mycelium (mycelium), capable of unlimited development all my life. The substrate zone is formed in fungi from so-called hyphae - tubular filamentary structures. They mushroom attached to the substrate, where it feeds. Hyphae have a weakly expressed cellular structure. In general, mushrooms can have a single-celled, and multicellular structure, nuclear, limited to shells.

The outer or air zone of many fungi is represented by fruit bodies (what we are accustomed to, actually, call mushrooms). With a favorable environment, they exit the mycelium outward. Fruit bodies contain spores intended for reproduction. It is known that some mushrooms can produce up to several tens of billions of spores for the life of the fruit body. But fungi can also multiply by mycelium (and in some cases by cells).