Introduction+to+Fungus+and+Lichen

    =Fungi and Lichen = 

What are fungi?  <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(23, 222, 30); background-color: rgb(21, 20, 20)"><span style="color: rgb(65, 190, 39); background-color: rgb(5, 5, 5)"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"> Fungi are very relevant in our ecosystem. If fungi did not exist, then the world would be littered with a great deal of indecomposable organic waste, but thanks to the presences of natural decomposers such as fungi, the natural cycle of life is able to take place. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"> The biology textbook states:   <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)">//<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"> Fungi are eukaryotes, and most are multicellular. They are not plants; in studies show that fungi and animals probably came from a common ancestor. Fungi that are decomposers absorb nutrients from nonliving organic material, such as fallen logs, animal corpses or the wastes of live organisms. //  <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)">

The fungi have multiple jobs; therefore, they have their own kingdom. Surprisingly fungi, despite their reputation, are not all bad. There are some nice fungi, and some mean fungi. The mean fungi are pathogenic fungi and have parasitic natures, and like to prey on trees, causing the slow decay of the tree because it is absorbing nutrients essential to the tree. Basically, pathogenic fungi, have parasitic relationships with organisms (they latch on to a host and lives off its nutrients), i.e trees, and mycorrhizal associates, have mutual relationships with other organisms(with trees or plants, they increase water and nutrient uptake in exchange for the carbon they need. ) There are also decomposing fungi, ones that are found on the barks of dead trees, that break down the decaying matter for later nutrient cycling. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="color: rgb(166, 58, 58)"><span style="color: rgb(177, 47, 47)"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(23, 222, 30); background-color: rgb(21, 20, 20)"><span style="color: rgb(65, 190, 39); background-color: rgb(5, 5, 5)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="color: rgb(166, 58, 58)"><span style="color: rgb(177, 47, 47)"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(23, 222, 30); background-color: rgb(21, 20, 20)"><span style="color: rgb(65, 190, 39); background-color: rgb(5, 5, 5)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"> <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(23, 222, 30); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)">  <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"> <span style="font-size: 150%; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif"> What is lichen?

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> Lichen is the combination of a compatible fungus and algae. They form and become lichen. They help each other survive as an organism. The alga helps use chemical reactions (making glucose) to provide the lichen organism with food, while the fungus provides protection and housing for the lichen. Lichen are good indicators of how clean and unpolluted the air may be. Other helpful uses of lichen make nitrogen usable to plants and are homes to many spiders and insects. They are also very important in the nutrient cycle. Some can also be used for consumption and the dying of wools. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="color: rgb(166, 58, 58)"><span style="color: rgb(177, 47, 47)"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(23, 222, 30); background-color: rgb(21, 20, 20)"><span style="color: rgb(65, 190, 39); background-color: rgb(5, 5, 5)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)">Basically,We went to Flat Rock brook a few times over the course of the school year, mostly in the fall and spring time and wrote down the position of trees using the GPS, and took pictures of the amount of fungi and lichen present. We stayed in the same general vicinity, on the orange trail (give or take a meter), and came up with the following questions and hypothesis        <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(23, 222, 30); background-color: rgb(21, 20, 20)"><span style="color: rgb(65, 190, 39); background-color: rgb(5, 5, 5)"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(98, 210, 75)">       <span style="font-size: 140%; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif">Question??????? <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(1, 30, 2); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)">Does the presence of lichen, in the same area of fungi, interrupt the decomposition work of fungi? Furthermore, do the peak times for fungi and lichen growth, and or the peak presences (whenever there is an abundance of one, and not so much of the other) interrupt the decomposition of tress/ stumps in flat rock?

<span style="font-size: 140%; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif">Hypothesis

We believe that the lichen will not have a direct influence on the decomposition cycle of fungi, but we do believe that lichen will be an indicator of how well it will be able to decompose a dead organism and how well living conditions for the fungi may be.

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)">     <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif"> Methods and Materials Data and Results Pictures of trees Conclusion Tina and Yrianna's Bibliography <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(23, 222, 30); background-color: rgb(21, 20, 20)">

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)">    <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(23, 222, 30); background-color: rgb(21, 20, 20)"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)">