Saprotrophic fungi are dangerous to flowers. Saprotrophic mushrooms. The meaning of mushrooms in nature

The life of many saprotrophs depends on certain types of green plants. This coexistence with higher plants is called mycorrhiza. Delicate fibers of the mycelium of mycorrhizal fungi entwine the thin roots of trees or grasses, or penetrate inside and suck out some of the substances necessary to maintain their life. In turn, through the mycelium, these fungi provide green plants with substances that are necessary for their growth. Typical mycorrhizal fungi include most tubular boletal fungi. The beneficial properties of mycorrhiza are of great importance in forestry, mainly in afforestation.

In addition to nutrients from organic materials, mushrooms require appropriate temperature and humidity to grow. As long-term observations show, the fruiting body of the fungus develops best in calm, calm weather. Light is not important for mushrooms. The life cycle of many fungi takes place in an environment without access to light. The formation of the fruiting body is influenced by many other factors that have not yet been fully studied.

The body of the mushroom itself, or mycelium, being in the soil or other nutrient medium, grows in all directions. The lifespan of mycelium varies. While in some species it lasts only one year, in others it lasts several decades. The mycelium of many cap mushrooms in the soil radiates in a circle, at the edges of which fruiting bodies are formed. They are called “witch rings.” The circle of the mycelium grows every year and its radius increases.

In nature, mushrooms perform an important function: they eliminate organic remains of dead plants and animals. Fungi, together with bacteria, decompose organic substances into their simplest elements and thus contribute to the circulation of matter in nature. Without this, life on Earth would stop. Organic substances would constantly accumulate and there would be a shortage of biogenic elements that form living matter.

Man began to collect mushrooms from time immemorial, eating them and making drinks. At the same time, without even knowing that fermentation of bread dough, wine and various refreshing drinks is caused by yeast fungi. With the development of civilization and natural sciences, people began to consciously use the beneficial properties of mushrooms in various industries. In the modern food industry, it is impossible to even imagine the production of certain types of products without the use of yeasts and molds. Medical research has discovered the medicinal properties of certain types of mushrooms, and the pharmaceutical industry produces various antibiotics from them.

It is difficult to overestimate mushrooms as a source of human nutrition, although they make up only a small percentage of the human diet compared to the main traditional foods. Canning factories process not only wild mushrooms, but also those that are specially bred in industrial cultivation. Mushroom picking brings modern man pleasure and joy from active recreation in nature, and also delivers a tasty and nutritious product to his table.

To complete the picture, more should be said about poisonings that can be caused by certain types of poisonous mushrooms. Some people avoid mushrooms altogether and feel disgusted by them only because there are poisonous mushrooms among them. After all, in the world of vascular plants there are many species that contain dangerous toxic substances, but no one is disgusted by them. A modern educated person should treat mushrooms rationally without any prejudices. If you know how to distinguish edible mushrooms from poisonous ones, then you can safely pick mushrooms without fear for your health.

The diverse life of mushrooms and their function in the cycle of life on Earth is necessary and natural, although mushrooms bring both benefit and harm to humans. A person, as a good owner, must learn to use their beneficial properties and avoid the harm they can cause.

Mushroom pickers are most interested in cap mushrooms, since most of them are edible. Therefore, in the future we will pay attention only to cap mushrooms, which consist of a cap and a stem.

All organisms on earth perform some function that benefits or harms the environment. For example, some fungi replenish their supplies by destroying dead remains, while others feed on living organisms.

The meaning of mushrooms in nature

Nutrients decomposed by mushrooms are subsequently absorbed by other plants. Living creatures (animals and insects) feed on cap species. There are also mushrooms that are specially grown artificially. These are champignons and oyster mushrooms. Mold fungi (aspergillus, penicillium) are used to produce antibiotics and even hard cheeses. Ergot (formed on cereal crops) is used to combat malignant tumors.

Symbiont mushrooms

Symbiosis- the cohabitation of different organisms in which both benefit. Symbiont fungi participate in the formation of two symbioses:

• lichens formed as a result of interaction with algae and bacteria;
• mycorrhiza - with the root system of plants.

Nutritional Features

Mushrooms, entwining the small roots of plant organisms, feed on the organic substances that make up their composition. Such actions do not harm plants, but promote the absorption of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, microelements) and water from the soil.

Names and descriptions of popular symbiont mushrooms

Typically, cap mushrooms are classified as a mixed type of nutrition, which can receive organic substances from both plant roots and humus.

• Boletus. Interacts with aspens, oaks, willows and poplars. The brown hemisphere-shaped cap has a reddish or orange tint. It is impossible to separate the layer of skin without pulp. The height of the gray leg is up to 18 cm. The fruit body is fleshy and dense. Young individuals are elastic, while old ones become loose. At the break, the white flesh turns blue over time and then turns black. Does not have a pronounced aroma.
• Boletus. Grows near birch roots. Over the course of its life, the mushroom cap changes from a spherical shape to a flat, pillow-like shape. At high humidity it becomes sticky to the touch. The white pulp with a dense structure oxidizes at the cut site. In older individuals it becomes watery and loose. Cylindrical leg covered with dark gray scales.
• Oiler and saffron milk cap. They live under coniferous trees. Butterflies are characterized by a slimy skin that appears to be coated with oil. Hemisphere-shaped hats reaching 16 cm in diameter are painted in a spectrum of colors from brown-chocolate to yellow-brown. As they grow older, the shape straightens out, becoming flat. The color of the stem is usually lighter. The pulp is juicy. The saffron milk cap is characterized by a round cap with concentric circles and a depressed center. The orange pulp oxidizes when it comes into contact with air, acquiring a greenish tint.

If you destroy the host tree, the mushrooms growing underneath will also disappear.

Saprophytic mushrooms

Saprotrophic organisms (decomposers, saprophytes) feed on organic compounds obtained as a result of the destruction of dead animals and plants.

Features of structure and nutrition

Saprophytes include many large fungi, consisting of a large number of light spores, allowing them to spread effortlessly to other food sources.

This population of fungi prefers to settle on plant debris:

• fallen needles, foliage;
• feathers and horns;
• twigs;
• cones;
• stems of annual grasses;

Saprophytes extract nutrients from dead sources. Depending on the substrate, certain types of mushrooms grow.

Examples of saprophyte fungi

Since all living organisms have a beginning and an end, saprophytes play an important role in the cycle of substances, destroying natural biomass consisting of monoorganic substances. Edible mushrooms include:

• morels;
• dung beetles;
• Champignon;
• umbrellas.

Among saprotrophic organisms there are also unsuitable for food, which pose a danger to human life.

Why are mushrooms dangerous for humans (video)

Appearance and nutrition

When settling on living plants, fungi feed on organic substances from living cells of the host. As a result, the tree suffers enormous damage. Having settled on agricultural crops, they lead to the formation of dangerous diseases and reduce yields.

The presence of a ring on the stem of the honey fungus formed the name of the mushroom. Prefers to grow in large colonies. It is salted, fried, pickled. Valued for its high mineral content. Just 100 grams of product contains the body’s daily need for these elements.

Young specimens of polypores collected on deciduous trees should be eaten. Individuals growing on coniferous trees are at risk of mild poisoning. Experienced mushroom pickers recommend eating only well-known mushroom populations.

Fungi do not bypass any plant community, taking part in their life. They work closely with them, ensuring the mineralization of organic elements, and also actively participate in the cycle of substances in nature.

Most people associate the word mushrooms with a basket filled with porcini mushrooms, aspen mushrooms and boletus mushrooms. But for biologists, this concept is very diverse and includes not only the species familiar to us, but the entire biological kingdom, represented by both microscopic creatures and giants.

By nature of nutrition, all mushrooms are heterotrophs

To understand this, let's look at both types in more detail.

By nature of nutrition, all fungi are heterotrophs. Without chlorophyll, they cannot synthesize complex nutrients themselves, so they are forced to consume ready-made ones.

Their nutrition is carried out through the absorption of necessary substances by the mycelium. Because, what mushrooms eat are divided into:

Lower saprophytes, consisting of just one cell, are represented by the fungus mucor or the well-known white mold. There are many different molds among higher fungi. A small part of them are useful to humans: penicillium, yeast. But most are harmful, causing food spoilage. Some can even cause dangerous diseases: mycoses, thrush and even pseudotuberculosis.

For nature, saprophytes are extremely useful. It is thanks to them that natural waste is processed into substances available to plants, providing them with nutrition for further development. They can be called forest orderlies, thanks to them all wood residues are processed.

To summarize, we can say that the main differences between these types of mushrooms are in the way they feed and the benefits or harm they bring to wildlife and humans.

Most edible mushrooms are classified as symbiotes based on their feeding method. By taking away nutrition from plants, most often trees of certain species, they supply them with mineral nutrients and water. The benefits of such an alliance are mutual.

Among all their variety, there are some that can be eaten. Some of them are familiar to everyone, but there are also species that few know about.

Autumn honey fungus (real)

It grows on living trees and stumps, sometimes settling on dead wood, in this case becoming a saprophyte. Found everywhere in large groups, prefers moist forests. Fruits from September until frost. Usually there are 2-3 waves of fruiting. The poisonous sulfur-yellow honey fungus is similar to it.

Honey mushrooms can be boiled, fried, dried, salted and pickled.

Winter honey fungus (winter mushroom)

It is called so because of its ability to bear fruit even in winter during thaws.

Agaric. Having a cap from 2 to 10 cm in diameter, yellow-brown or honey-colored, the outer edge is lighter. The leg is strong, of medium thickness, velvety brown, slightly lighter in the upper part. The plates are light, the cover is missing.

Habitat: northern temperate zone. It grows on living wood and can also invade dead trees. Fruits from spring to autumn.

The mushroom belongs to category 4. Eat pre-boiled. Boiled mushrooms are salted and marinated. Fungi produce a substance called flammulin, which can fight sarcoma. Very popular in the cuisines of Japan and Korea, where it is industrially cultivated.

Scaly

The mushroom has low taste and is consumed after boiling.

Sawfoils

They have another name - panus. Little-known conditionally edible mushrooms. Only young individuals can be eaten. The Panus family is quite numerous. All of them belong to lamellar fungi and grow on wood, mainly coniferous species, and scaly sawfoil can even grow on telegraph poles and sleepers, for which it has another name - sleeper.

Shiitake

Unfortunately, this valuable mushroom is not found in the wild here - it cannot survive our harsh winters. But in China and Japan it is not only a delicious delicacy, but also a valuable medicine. The list of diseases that it can cure is very long. These include cancer, hepatitis, immune deficiency and much more. In a number of countries it is cultivated. At the moment, shiitake is being intensively studied by scientists who have already isolated a number of valuable potent substances from it.

Name and description of saprophyte mushrooms

There are edible mushrooms among saprophytic organisms. These are champignons, morels, puffballs, umbrella mushrooms, dung beetles, and summer honey mushrooms.

Champignon

Most people buy champignons at the store. They sell mushrooms grown on a special substrate under cultural conditions. Few people know that champignons can be found in meadows and even in forests. Wikipedia lists as many as 20 types of champignons. Among them, only 2 are poisonous and 4 are conditionally edible, the rest are quite suitable for food and are even very tasty.

Everything is clear about cultural varieties. Let's talk about forest and meadow champignons. In the meadow you can most often find field and meadow champignons. They grow where the ground is fertilized with manure or bird droppings, in a word, grazing livestock and poultry. Both of these species are especially good when young, while their cap looks like an egg, the plates have not yet darkened and are pink, and the spathe has not yet burst to form a characteristic skirt. The meadow and field champignons have a snow-white cap, only in the first it is ovoid at a young age, and in the second it is more like a bell. Its flesh turns yellow when touched, and the cover can be two-layered, forming the same ring.

The wild mushroom has a brownish-brown cap, covered with brown scales. The forest champignon is found in mixed and coniferous forests and often grows near anthills.

Mushroom umbrella

It is a relative of the champignon, as it belongs to the same family, but is significantly larger in size. An adult mushroom has a light cap covered with dark brown shaggy scales that can reach a diameter of 35 cm, and the stem grows up to 40 cm in height and has a thickness of 4 cm. It is also covered with small scales. The mushroom has a blanket that, with age, turns into a ring that moves freely along the stem. Russian mushroom pickers treat it with caution and most often bypass it.. And in vain. This mushroom is very tasty, especially when it is young, when it is more tender. In Europe, the umbrella is sometimes added to salads, even raw. It loves light forests, begins to bear fruit in June and ends in late autumn.

Morels

They open the mushroom season. This mushroom is difficult to confuse with something else. The dark brown conical cap is pitted with indentations and this makes it seem lacy. The leg is white, hollow inside. These mushrooms love to grow in light forests, on the edges of . They start collecting morels immediately after the snow melts.. The mushroom is considered conditionally edible. Use after boiling for 20 minutes. The broth needs to be drained.

Interesting facts about mushrooms (video)

The diverse kingdom of mushrooms amazes with its variability and ability to adapt to any conditions. This piece of living nature allows you to verify its wisdom. Mushrooms are neither plants nor animals, but without them neither one nor the other could exist.

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Xylotrophs. Wood decomposition is one of the main links in the biological cycle of substances in nature.

Depending on the type of decomposing compounds, mushrooms are divided into two groups.

1. Mushrooms use only the carbohydrate complex, in particular cellulose, and lignin is not broken down. This type of destruction (decomposition) is called brown or destructive rot. The wood loses strength and crumbles into separate cubes. Representatives: fringed polypore (Fomitopsis pinicola), scaly polypore (Polyporus squamosus), oak sponge (Daedalea quercina), etc.

2. Mushrooms use mainly lignin. In this case, the wood splits into individual white fibers. This rot is called white rot or corrosive rot. Representatives: autumn honey fungus (Armillaria mellea), true polypore (Fomes fomentarius), flat polypore (Ganoderma applanatum), oyster mushroom (Pleurotus).

The greatest amount of wood is needed by mushrooms during the formation of spores. On average, the formation of one fruiting body of a mushroom requires as much nitrogen as is contained in 6 kg of wood. For the formation of spores by one fruiting body of the flat polypore, 35 kg of wood is required during the season. The needs of a real tinder fungus are even greater. For the formation of spores by one fruiting body within 20 days, 41 kg of wood is required. Along with the decomposition of wood, another important process occurs - soil formation, since dark-colored huminopodic compounds accumulate in the hyphae of fungi as a result of the decomposition of lignin.

The decomposition of wood occurs in stages, the destruction of substances occurs gradually, and some species are replaced by others (succession). According to S.A. Vaksman’s scheme, this process can be represented by the following stages.

1. Fast-growing groups of zygomycetes, together with bacteria, use water-soluble wood compounds.

2. Polysaccharides, such as starch, hemicellulose, are utilized by marsupial and anamorphic fungi.

3. Decomposition of lignin by wood-destroying fungi. First, aphyllophoroid (in particular, tinder) basidiomycetes settle, and then agaricoid basidiomycetes and gasteromycetes, which complete the decomposition of the wood.

Litter saprotrophs. The name itself speaks about the location and functional significance of the fungi of this ecological group. Litter decomposition is a very important process in the life of ecosystems. It is known that 25...60% of forest litter consists of leaves and needles, which differ from wood residues in chemical composition. Almost all taxonomic groups of fungi participate in the decomposition of litter, but ascomycetes, zygomycetes, and anamorphic fungi dominate. Pigmented anamorphic mushrooms are of great interest. Sometimes there are 70...90 and even 100%. Among macromycetes, the most common are mushrooms of the genus Marasmius, Mycena, Collybia, Clitocybe, and Geastrum. The mycelium of litter saprotrophs can withstand sharp fluctuations in temperature and humidity.

Processes occurring during litter decomposition:

• mineralization of nitrogenous compounds. This process involves bacteria - ammonifiers and fungi of the genera Mucor, Aspergillus, Trichoderma. Protein decomposition occurs. The main result is the conversion of combined nitrogen into free ammonia: N-NH 3 ;
• The decomposition of carbon compounds to CO 2 and H 2 O is also carried out by certain groups of bacteria and fungi.

Humus saprotrophs. Humic saprotrophs form a group of species involved in the decomposition of soil humus. Their mycelium is located in the lower layer of forest litter and in the upper soil horizon, but they can grow in completely bare areas devoid of litter. These are mainly agaricoid basidiomycetes and gasteromycetes. These mushrooms are found in open spaces, for example, tall umbrella mushroom (Macrolepiota procera), blushing umbrella mushroom (Chlorophyllum rhacodes), champignons (Agaricus), earth stars (Geastrum), puffballs (Lycoperdon).

Carbotrophs. Carbotrophs settle on old fireplaces and conflagrations, and occupy pyrogenic habitats. On the one hand, they can be considered as the result of biochemical adaptation to pyrogenic habitats. On the other hand, this is a move away from competitors into an ecological niche inaccessible to them. The substrate is a mixture of mineral soil particles with charred wood residues. Such a nutrient medium contains pure carbon with a small admixture (2...3%) of polymeric carbohydrates.

A clear colonization of the substrate is observed. After two weeks, thermophilic species of ascomycetes appear, for example Sordaria, Pyronema, then species with antagonistic activity, for example species of the genus Peziza. At the last stages of the destruction of the coal substrate, coal flake (Pholiota carbonaria), cinder myxomphalia (Myxomphalia), and pinnate psathyrella (Psathyrella pennata) grow. By this time, the soil microbiota is usually restored. Thus, carbotrophs are a specific group of fungi, functionally aimed at preparing the substrate for its further colonization by higher plants.

Coprotrophs. Coprotrophs utilize organic substances found in animal excrement (copros - manure). The substrate is rich in organic matter. For them, this source of nutrition is the only one and therefore determines their distribution in nature. Coprotrophs are more often found in livestock manure than in wild animal excrement. This determined their confinement to populated areas.

Fungi that settle on manure have specific characteristics. First of all, fungal spores must be resistant to elevated temperatures and the effects of the digestive system of animals. Basically, coprotrophs include fungi of the mucor family (Mukor, Pilobolus), as well as macroscopic fungi - dung beetle (Coprinus), panaeolus (Panaeolus). Living on a specific substrate has led to interesting features that facilitate the spread of spores:

• spores are forcefully ejected from the fruiting bodies (dung beetle) or from the sporangiophore (pilobolus);
• the spore mass is carried above the substrate (mukor);
• spores or fruiting bodies have appendages and are carried by animals and birds (chaetomium, lophotrichum).

Mycotrophs. The decomposition and mineralization of fungal residues in nature is carried out by fungi - mycotrophs, both micromycetes and macromycetes. Mycotrophs are distributed everywhere, in different climatic zones. Quite rarely in forests, on the fruiting bodies of russula mushrooms, cap mushrooms grow on the second floor, for example, Asterophora lycoperdoides.

Conclusion . Judging by the characteristics of the ecological groups of fungi, they have adapted to living in all communities, are in close connection with other organisms and are active participants in the soil-forming process, as well as the cycle of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in nature.

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The life of mushrooms in nature is influenced by numerous environmental factors, especially varied on land, where most of the existing species of mushrooms live. These are the chemical composition of the substrate, temperature and humidity of the air, the content of oxygen and carbon dioxide in it, precipitation, the intensity of solar radiation, wind speed, interaction with other organisms - animals, plants, microorganisms, and finally, various anthropogenic impacts - trampling, mushroom picking, grazing livestock, etc.

They are absorbed by the mycelium osmotically over its entire surface or its specialized parts. This method of nutrition is called diffusion-osmotic or osmotrophy.

Fungi are found wherever there is plant debris, such as fallen leaves, decaying wood, animal remains, and cause their decomposition and mineralization, as well as the formation of humus.

Thus, fungi are decomposers (i.e., destroyers), like bacteria and some other organisms.

Saprotrophs are usually relatively unspecialized in terms of nutrition. The availability for them of certain organic compounds of complex structure - polysaccharides, proteins, etc. is determined by the ability of such fungi to synthesize and release enzymes into the environment that decompose these substances into simpler components - simple sugars, amino acids, etc. Fungi vary greatly in this ability : some of them are capable of using only simple carbohydrates, organic acids, alcohols, etc. (they are often called sugar mushrooms), while others form hydrolytic enzymes that decompose starch, cellulose, proteins, chitin, etc., and can develop on substrates containing these substances. Therefore, in the process of decomposition of plant debris, such as litter or wood, there is a natural replacement of some types of fungi by others, called succession.

Among saprotrophs, we sometimes encounter rather narrowly specialized groups, for example, keratinophils, which decompose a very persistent protein of animal origin, keratin, and develop on remains containing it - hooves, horns, bird feathers, hair, etc. However, the specialization of these fungi is determined mainly by their low ability to compete for food with other, faster growing or antibiotic-producing microorganisms. Such fungi avoid competition by occupying specific substrates that are inaccessible to other organisms.