Liberty University Online Academy - Ms Bonaguro - Science ...



Student Name:

Date:

Part 1: Phylum Basidiomycota

Agaricus Mushroom lab media

Save a snapshot of your labeled Agaricus Mushroom to your lab portfolio.

Fungal Structure

1. Mushrooms are the fruiting body of Basidiomycete fungi. What is the fungus itself made up of? Describe both the single units and the overall networked structure that groups of these units form.

2. Every spring mushrooms grow in a certain spot on a lawn. Even though the mushrooms are removed, what remains underground from year to year?

The Fungal Mycelium

3. An interesting, and annoyingly persistent, phenomenon is the appearance of "fairy rings"? on lawns and golf greens. These are rings of dead or dying grass around a set of mushrooms.

Copy one of the following links into a web browser and read about fairy rings:





(a) In what direction is the fairy ring fungus growing?

(b) Why does the grass die in a ring?

(c) If the fungus cannot be easily killed, how is the growth of the fungus slowed while the growth of the grass is improved?

Fungal Reproduction

1. Fungi reproduce by dispersing spores, whereas plants do the same thing with seeds. Compare the nutritional content in 100g of the common "white button" mushroom with an equivalent amount of whole wheat grain:

White Button Mushroom (per 100g):

• Calories 21

• Fat 0.4 g

• Carbohydrates 3.2 g

• Fiber 1.0 g

• Protein 3.1 g

• Potassium 318 mg

• Iron 0.5 mg

• Zinc 0.5 mg Whole Wheat (per 100g):

• Calories 339

• Fat 1.9 g

• Carbohydrates 72.6 g

• Fiber 12.2 g

• Protein 13.7 g

• Potassium 405 mg

• Iron 3.9 mg

• Zinc 2.9 mg

b) How does this explain the enormous difference between the nutritional values of mushrooms and whole wheat flour?

Agaricus Gill microscope slide

Save snapshots of the annotated structures by clicking the Snapshot button on the microscope (on the barrel above the objectives). Create multiple annotated snapshots as necessary.

2. When you looked at the Agaricus mushroom under the microscope, you saw many many spores along each gill.

(a) How many spores does a single Agaricus mushroom produce, according to a rough estimation (hundreds, thousands)?

(b) By comparison, a single stalk of wheat carries around 50 seeds.

Given the differences between mushroom spores and wheat seeds, in both content and numbers, how would you compare the reproductive strategies of the two organisms? Which strategy seems better to you?

3. Another issue of reproductive strategy is the method of spore dispersal. A fungus could simply release spores and let them fall next to the parent organism or it could devise a mechanism for dispersal further away. How would distant spore dispersal benefit reproduction?

4. Copy the following link into your web browser:



Read the web page to get an idea of the various methods evolved by fungi to disperse spores, and then answer these questions:

(a) What are 3 mechanisms of passive spore dispersal?

(b) What are 3 mechanisms of active spore dispersal? ** Don't forget the video you saw of the flying pilobolus spores!

5. Given the number of spores produced by fungi and the various methods for dispersal, why is our world not overrun by fungi?

Part 2: Phylum Ascomycota

Aspergillus

Take a snapshot of the annotated slide for your portfolio.

Athletes' foot is the caused by the fungus Trichophyton rubrum , a member of the Ascomycota phylum. Open your lab manual and scroll down to the end of the Background section to see an image of this fungus.

1. You can clearly see filaments of hyphae with spherical structures attached.

(a) What are the spherical structures?

(b) What do they contain?

(c) How does this structure clearly indicate that Trichophyton belongs to the phylum Ascomycota?

2. In general, fungi absorb nutrients from their environment through the walls of the hyphae. They also release the enzymes that degrade food sources into nutrients through the walls of the hyphae. What two environmental conditions improve transfer in and out of the hyphae and enzymatic reactions? Consider that athletes"™ foot thrives between the toes of the feet.

Penicillium chrysogenum

Take a snapshot of the annotated slide for your portfolio.

Part 3: The Phylum Zygomycota

Label the zygomycota structures in the image and save it to your portfolio.

Rhizopus stolonifer

Pilobolus Crystalinnus

Label the sporangium structures in the image and save it to your portfolio.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download