Classification of OrganismsClassification of Organisms

Refer to Encarta Encyclopedia

Fungus- any member of a diverse group of organisms that—unlike plants and animals—obtain food by absorbing nutrients from an external source.

Today thousands of different types of fungi grow on and absorb food from substances such as soil, wood, decaying organic matter, or living plants and other organisms.

The fossil record suggests that fungi were present 550 million years ago and may have evolved even earlier. They range from tiny, single-celled organisms invisible to the naked eye to some of the largest living multicellular organisms.

Examples:• Armillaria mushroom, a type

of fungus, extends more than 12 hectares (30 acres).

• Lichens, a living partnership of a fungus and an alga.

Algae- diverse group of simple, plantlike organisms. Like plants, most algae use the energy of sunlight to make their own food, a process called photosynthesis. However, algae lack the roots, leaves, and other structures typical of true plants.

• Algae are the most important photosynthesizing organisms on Earth. They capture more of the sun’s energy and produce more oxygen (a by product of photosynthesis) than all plants combined.

• Algae form the foundation of most aquatic food webs, which support an abundance of animals.

• Algae vary greatly in size and grow in many diverse habitats.

Examples:• Microscopic algae, called phytoplankton, float

or swim in lakes and oceans. Phytoplankton are so small that 1000 individuals could fit on the head of a pin.

• The largest forms of algae are seaweeds that stretch 100 m (300 ft) from the ocean bottom to the water’s surface.

• algae live with fungi to form lichens• Algae called zooxanthellae live inside the cells of

reef-building coral.

Lumot sa Boracay http://aimeelyn.xanga.com/244744427/item/ downloaded 12 March 2012

Enteromorpha or Ulvahttp://www.mbari.org/staff/conn/botany/greens/ram/enter.htm Downloaded 12 March 2012.

A macroscopic view of Enteromorpha

A closer look at Enteromorpha

Enteromorpha through a microscope

Individual cells of Enteromorpha

Chloroplasts in individual cells

Lichens

Lichen under the Microscope

Lichens- symbiotic relationship between a fungus and an alga

Bacteria in Yogurt

Old bread through the naked eye

Old bread through magnifying lens

• Mold and mildew are commonly used interchangeably, although mold is often applied to black, blue, green, and red fungal growths, and mildew to whitish growths.

• Black bread mold, Aspergillus niger, one of the most familiar molds, begins as a microscopic, airborne spore that germinates on contact with the moist surface of non-living organic matter.

Growth on old bread LPO

Growth on old bread HPO

Hyphae in Fungi

Mold under the microscope

• The stolon is a kind of hypha connecting fruiting bodies. The stemlike part is called a sporangiophore. The roundish yellowish shapes are sporangia (plural for sporangium) the structures which bear the small round spores. Each spore that lands in a warm, dark, moist place “germinates” and form hyphae all over again.

Bacteria

Anabaena (bluegreen alga or cyanobacteria)

azoll

Azolla Fern