Bio Universe
The place where biodiversity lives
Fungi
Fungi is where we have typed up sections for different fungi. We add more and more occasionally and have a quick list on the right that you can check to see what we actually have information on right now. Have fun!
We first recommend that you familiarize yourself with all the types of fungi.
Types of Fungi
There are eight types of fungi. Yeast, mold, mushrooms, rust, blight, lichen, mildew, and smut.
Mushrooms
Mushrooms come in many different sizes, but none are bigger than us. They have stalks that can be thick or thin, but a bigger mushroom will call for a thicker stalk to hold it upright. They grow bulky caps that form hemispheres. Mushrooms have something called hyphae, which acts like a plant's roots. It travels through the ground in many thin threads. This large network is called a mycelium.
Mold
Mold growing on a clementine.
Mold is another type of fungus that grows from hyphae (See up above). It loves to grow on old food, making it discolored and possibly giving it a fuzzy appearance. Molds usually make the food bad to eat, but we know to stay away from it and throw it out because the mold's colour makes the food look sick. Some molds produce toxins called mycotoxins that can harm humans and animals alike. Exposure to high levels of mycotoxins can sometimes cause death.
Rust
This kind of rust is a plant disease caused by pathogenic fungi. Rust fungi are highly specialized parasites. Unlike other plant pathogens, rust usually targets the healthier growing plants, but the infection is limited to different plant parts; stem, leaves, fruit, etc. Plants that have been severely rusted may appear stunted, yellowed, or just plain discoloured.
Yeast
There are currently 1,500 species of yeast, which is probably just 1% of all fungal species. The size of the yeast depends greatly on what species it is. They usually reach around 4 micrometres, but some yeasts have grown as large as 40 micrometres. You may know yeast starting from being an ingredient in beer, but it is an important ingredient in wine as well. It must convert the sugar present in the grape juice into ethanol. However, yeast is already present on grape skins. Fermentation can be done with this "wild yeast", but the results are unpredictable. That's why we use different yeast, so we can be sure what type of yeast is going into the fermentation process.
Smut
Smut gets its name from a German word meaning dirt, because of it's dark, thick-walled, and dust-like spores. Smuts are cereal and crop pathogens that mostly affect members of the grass family. Important hosts include barley, wheat, oats, and sugarcane. They eventually hijack the plants' reproductive system and form galls that go dark and burst. This releases more fungal spores, infecting other nearby plants. But before infection begins, the smut needs to go through a successful mating process to form strong hyphae.
Smut growing on corn.
Blight
Blight is mostly a symptom referring to plants being infected by a pathogenic organism. The plant rapidly browns, then the plant tissues (such as leaves, branches, etc.) die.
Lichen
A lichen is an organism consisting of a fungus and a photosynthetic partner growing in a symbiotic relationship. The partner is usually green algae or cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), but it can be other things too. Lichens usually occur in the most extreme environments in the world (literally!) but do sometimes occur in a few calmer areas. Many roofs of buildings have lichen on them. People estimate that around 6% of the Earth's land area is covered by lichen.
A lichen-covered tree.
Mildew
Examples of downy and powdery mildew on a grape leaf
Mildew is a thin, superficial, and usually whitish growth that consists of hyphae, and is produced especially on plants and other organic things. It is also produced on things that have been left damp for a while. Like all types of fungi, there are different kinds of mildew. The most common kinds are downy mildew and powdery mildew, like you see on the image to the left (sorry about the typo.)