Name: ____________________________________________Date: _______________Hour: __________
Activity: Working With Fungi as Mushrooms, Molds, Yeasts and Prepared Slides
Introduction:
The Kingdom Fungi includes some of the most important organisms, both in terms of their ecological and economic roles. Fungi are eukaryotic organisms—their DNA is enclosed in a nucleus. Many of them may look plant-like, but fungi do not make their own food from sunlight like plants do. Fungi include single-celled organisms that exist individually—the yeasts—and multicellular bunches, such as molds or mushrooms. Fungi are important to the environment as decomposers, by breaking down dead organic material, they continue the cycle of nutrients through ecosystems. In addition, many plants could not grow without the symbiotic fungi, or mycorrhizae, that inhabit their roots and supply essential nutrients. Other fungi provide numerous drugs (such as penicillin), foods like mushrooms, truffles and morels, and the fermenting bubbles that appear in bread and beverages. Fungi also cause a number of plant and animal diseases: in humans, fungi cause ringworm, athlete’s foot, and several more serious diseases. Plant diseases caused by fungi include rusts, smuts, in addition to leaf, root, and stem rots, all of which may cause severe damage to crops.
Materials:
Mushroom, Dry Yeast, Bread Mold, and Prepared Slides Compound Light Microscope, Dissecting Microscope and/or Hand Lens Slides and Coverslips Distilled Water and Eye Droppers Scalpel (optional)
Procedure for the Mushroom:
1. Take the mushroom and using the hand lens or the dissecting microscope study it closely. 2. Identify, draw, and label these parts of the mushroom: gills, cap, basidiocarp, and stalk (page 507). 3. Now take the mushroom and cut it lengthwise through the cap and stalk. a. Examine the cut areas with the hand lens or the dissecting microscope. b. Identify, draw, and label the hyphae part of the mushroom.
MUSHROOM OUTSIDE:
MUSHROOM INSIDE:
Characteristics: ______________________________ ______________________________ Procedure for the Prepared Mushroom:
Characteristics: ______________________________ ______________________________
1. Obtain a prepared slide of the mushroom (Coprinus) and observe under the microscope. 2. Identify, draw, and label the parts of the prepared mushroom slide.
MUSHROOM (COPRINUS): Characteristics: ______________________________ ______________________________
Procedure for the Bread Mold:
1. Open the bag of bread and observe the bread mold then using a hand lens study it closely. 2. Identify, draw, and label the parts of the bread mold.
BREAD MOLD: Characteristics: ______________________________ ______________________________
Procedure for the Dry Yeast:
1. 2. 3. 4. Obtain a clean microscope slide from your teacher. Place a few specimens of Dry Yeast on the slide; add some water and then a coverslip. Find the yeast specimens first on scanning power, then low, and finally high-power. Make notes of the yeast being observed and draw a sketch. Return when completed.
SLIDE OF YEAST: Characteristics: ______________________________ ______________________________
PREPARED SLIDES OF OTHER FUNGI:
[Penicillium (deuteromycota), Rhizopus (zygomycota), Morchella (ascomycota), Polyporus (basidiomycota)]
Sketch: Penicillium - _______ Power
Sketch: Rhizopus - _______ Power
Characteristics: ______________________________ ______________________________ Sketch: Morchella - _______ Power
Characteristics: ______________________________ ______________________________ Sketch: Polyporus - _______ Power
Characteristics: ______________________________ ______________________________ Questions:
Characteristics: ______________________________ ______________________________
1. Where are the reproductive parts of a mushroom located? How does the location help spread the spores?
2.
Is a mushroom an autotroph or a heterotroph? Explain your answer in a complete sentence.
3. How does bread mold appear on a piece of bread? 4. What characteristic/trait makes yeast unique from most other fungi? 5. Name and describe the reproductive structures associated with each of the prepared slides from above.