Fungal structures, growth, reproduction, and metabolic processes. Ecological relationships belong in Ecology.
Test your knowledge with these top questions!
As many inkcap mushrooms mature, what happens to their gills?
Their dark fluid has been used to make writing ink, with the spores suspended in the liquid.
What type of organism is reindeer moss?
Reindeer and caribou eat these lichens in winter, when snow covers much of their other food.
Lichens growing on tree bark use the tree mainly for what?
Lichens make their own food, so finding them on bark does not mean they are harming the tree.
Which environmental problem often makes sensitive lichens disappear from city trees?
Lichens absorb water and nutrients across their bodies, so airborne chemicals can enter and damage them.
Under a mushroom cap, what shape do true gills have?
Each blade carries spore-producing cells on both sides, packing more spore-making area beneath the cap.
A mushroom described as having "free gills" has gills that do what?
Button mushrooms and death caps both have free gills, even though one is a common food and the other is deadly.
As a button mushroom matures, what color do its pink gills usually become?
The dark color comes from mature brown spores, which can settle onto a nearby mushroom cap like fine dust.
Which organism forms most of a lichen's body?
Fungal threads shelter the partner that makes food, helping protect that partner from drying out.
Baker's yeast converts glucose into carbon dioxide and which alcohol?
Much of the alcohol evaporates as bread bakes, while fermentation also helps develop the bread's flavor.
Baker's yeast belongs to which kingdom of living things?
Unlike a mushroom, baker's yeast usually lives as individual cells rather than a network of threads.