Fungus Like Protists

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Fungus Like Protists
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Characteristics

• Like Fungi
• Absorb food of dead/decaying organisms
• Look like fungi
• Unlike Fungi
• Lack chitin in cell walls
• Have centrioles

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3 Broad Groups of Fungi Like Protists

• Cellular Slime Molds
• --Found in damp, organic soils
• --Play key role in recycling matter
• --Distinct cell membranes during all life stages
• Acellular Slime Molds
• --Enter stage where many cells fuse to form one
  large cell with many nuclei cant tell where
  one starts and another begins
• Water molds
• --Thrive on dead or decaying matter in water or
  can be plant parasites on land in times of heavy
  rainfall

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Cellular Slime Molds
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Acellular Slime Mold
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Water Mold
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Ecology of Fungi Like Protists

• Slime molds and water molds are MOST important
  recyclers of organic material
• Some can be harmful
• Plant diseases ex. Irish Potato Famine water
  mold
• Phytophtora infestans
• overgrowth of water mold caused by wet and
  cool conditions
• Why is the earth not littered with dead orgs?
• Tissues broken down by Fungi Like Protists and
  other decomposers

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Worlds Largest Organism?!?!Armillaria ostoyae

• Found in Oregon in 2001
• 2200 Acres/3.5 miles in area!!!!
• Huh? Its the hyphae that make most of the
  structure underground
• Came from one original spore!
• Pathogenic Tree Fungus