Kingdom: Fungi

Phylum: Zygomycota

Read the section on Zygomycota in the notes.

Rhizopus (Bread Mold)

Review the life cycle of Rhizopus.

Observe Rhizopus (bread mold) growing on a culture dish. Use a dissecting microscope to see details of the hyphae and sporangia. Is there any evidence of sexual reproduction?

View slides of Rhizopus sporangia and Rhizopus zygotes. 

Rhizopus* sporangiaimg001.jpg (117038 bytes)
Rhizopus* zygotesimg002.jpg (69879 bytes)

Phylum: Ascomycota (Sac Fungi)

Read the section on Ascomycota in the notes.

Peziza (Cup Fungi)

Review the life cycle of Peziza (the cup fungus).

Observe preserved Peziza (cup fungus) using a dissecting microscope.

Observe a slide of  Peziza at scanning, low, and high power magnification. Find an ascus and ascospores on the upper surface (inside the cup).

Peziza* X 40img003.jpg (89147 bytes)
Peziza* X 200img004.jpg (91589 bytes)

Aspergillus

Observe the conidiophores and conidia (asexual spores) of Aspergillus.

Yeast

Yeast reproduce asexually by budding. Make a wet mount of live yeast and see if you can observe budding under high power. If you cannot see yeast budding, view a prepared slide of yeast budding under high power. 

Yeast also reproduce sexually by forming an ascus and eight ascospores. View a slide of Schizosaccharomyces octosporus under high power or oil immersion and find an ascus with ascospores.

Yeast* budding X 1000img005.jpg (21334 bytes)
Schizosaccharomyces
octosporus X 1000		img006.jpg (31792 bytes)
Schizosaccharomyces
octosporus X 1000		img007.jpg (64321 bytes)

Morchella (Morels)

Observe a preserved specimen of a morel. Asci and ascospores are produced on the surface.

morel.jpg (166428 bytes)

The photo above is courtesy of Michael Lawliss.

Penicillium

Observe Penicillium growing on a culture dish.

Penicillium growing on an agar plate Penicillin 6.jpg (100360 bytes)

Penicillium reproduces asexually. Observe a slide of Penicillium conidiophores under high power. The spores are called conidia.

Penicillium* conidia X 400img015.jpg (45037 bytes)

Phylum: Basidiomycota (Club Fungi)

Read the section on Basidiomycota.

Observe some representative club fungi on display including mushrooms, puffballs, and bracket fungi.

Mushroomsimg008.jpg (105201 bytes)
Bracket fungiimg010.jpg (117606 bytes)
Bracket fungi and lichensimg011.jpg (130112 bytes)

Mushrooms

Cut a mushroom to reveal the gills as shown in the photograph below. Basidia and basidiospores form on the gills.

Mushroom cut to
reveal the gills		Mushroom showing gills

View a cross section of the cap of a mushroom (Coprinus) showing the gills. Find a basidium and basidiospores.

Coprinus X 400img012.jpg (66590 bytes)
Coprinus X 1000 showing
basidia and basidiospores		img013.jpg (53831 bytes)
Coprinus X 1000 showing
basidia and basidiospores		img014.jpg (50244 bytes)

Puffballs

Carefully press down on a portion of a puffball until you see a cloud of "smoke" being produced. What is this cloud composed of?

A cloud of basidiospores
produced by a puffball.		Puffball spores 2.jpg (413416 bytes)

Symbiotic Associations of Fungi and Other Organisms

Lichens

Read the section on lichens in the notes.

Observe the lichens on display. Some lichens have a crust-like appearance (crustose). Others have a shrublike (fruticose) or leaflike (foliose) appearance.

Observe the photographs of lichens below.

Lichens growing on a rockimg018.jpg (115622 bytes)
Lichens growing on a treeimg019.jpg (100181 bytes)
Lichens growing on a treeimg020.jpg (115494 bytes)

Observe a slide of a lichen thallus (c.s.) and identify the fungal hyphae and the photosynthetic (algal) cells.

Lichen thallus
(cross-section X 200)		img021.jpg (87745 bytes)
Lichen thallus X 400img022.jpg (73363 bytes)

Mycorrhizae

Read the section on mycorrhizae in the notes.

Observe a slide of mycorrhizae in an orchid root.

Mycorrhizae in an orchid rootimg023.jpg (93892 bytes)