24.2: Formative/Summative Questions

Formative Questions

1. What is a fungus? What traits do you associate with being fungal?
2. Which group of organisms do you think fungi are most closely related to? Explain your reasoning.
3. What does the term symbiosis mean to you? How do you think this is different from the term mutualism?
4. What is the function of a mushroom? Do all fungi make mushrooms?

Summative Questions

1. How would you classify a heterotrophic eukaryote with a filamentous thallus? What traits would you need to make your determination?
2. Fungal hyphae are much smaller in diameter than plant roots. How would this influence the ability of a mycorrhizal fungus to acquire water and nutrients from the soil, in comparison to the plant?
3. Compare and contrast yeast and conidia.
4. What classifies something as a mold?
5. Where do you most often see molds and how might this relate to the reproductive strategy of these organisms?
6. Describe what is happening in the Rhizopus life cycle diagram below. Label important structures and note where fertilization and meiosis are occuring. Choose a different color to represent haploid and diploid tissues.

7. What determines whether a fungus is considered microfungi or macrofungi?

8. How would you differentiate between an ascomycete and basidiomycete? Which features would be most helpful in making this determination?

9. Fungi can form many different types of symbiotic relationships with plants. Compare and contrast parasitic and mutualistic symbioses.

10. What is a lichen? How would you classify this in the tree of life and why?

11. How do lichens obtain food? Are they autotrophic or heterotrophic? Explain your reasoning.

12. Label the structures present in the diagram on the next page and identify the group of fungi that each of these is from. Choose a different color to represent haploid, diploid, and dikaryotic tissues.

Contributors and Attributions

•  Maria Morrow (College of the Redwoods)