The Kingdom Fungi: The Biology of Mushrooms, Molds, and Lichens

362 Pages·2010·9.62 MB·English

by  Steven L. Stephenson

The Kingdom Fungi
The Kingdom Fungi
The Biology of Mushrooms, Molds, and Lichens
Steven L. Stephenson
Copyright © 2010 by Steven L. Stephenson. All rights reserved.
Published in 2010 by Timber Press, Inc.
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133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450
Portland, Oregon 97204-3527
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London NW6 6RJ
www.timberpress.co.uk
Printing in China Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stephenson, Steven L.
The kingdom fungi: the biology of mushrooms, molds, and lichens / Steven
L. Stephenson. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-88192-891-4
1. Fungi. 2. Fungal molecular biology. 3. Fungi—Biotechnology. I. Title.
QK603.S74 2010
579.5—dc22
2009041293
A catalog record for this book is also available from the British Library.
To my wife, Barbara

Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 What Are Fungi?
2 Fungi That Live in Water
3 The Most Ubiquitous of All Fungi
4 A Diversity of Form and Function
5 Morels, Truffles, Cup Fungi, and Flask Fungi
6 Mushrooms and Other Larger Fungi
7 Lichens—More Than Just Fungi
8 Slime Molds
9 The Role of Fungi in Nature
10 Interactions of Fungi and Animals
11 Fungi and Humans
12 Fossil Fungi
Glossary
References
Index
Color photographs follow pages 48 and 160.

Preface
This book was written to provide a basis for understanding the diversity of what
to the average person is a relatively little-known and under-appreciated group of
organisms—the fungi. Although it is difficult not to notice some fungi, including
the molds that sometimes appear as fuzzy growths on spoiled food and the
mushrooms that spring up in lawns immediately following a period of rainy
weather during the summer or early fall, most people don’t know much about
these widely distributed, ecologically very important, and often exceedingly
common organisms.
The overall purpose of the book is to introduce the reader to the biology,
general structure, and morphological diversity of the “true” fungi as well as
other funguslike (slime molds and water molds) and not-just-fungi (that is,
lichens) organisms traditionally considered by the scientists (mycologists) who
study fungi. Particular attention has been directed to examples of fungi that
might be found in the home, encountered in nature, or mentioned in the media.
The book should serve as a useful first text for the general naturalist, amateur
mycologist, or interested layperson who simply wants to become more familiar
with fungi.
The book is divided into 12 chapters. The first chapter provides a general
introduction to the fungi as a group. In Chapters 2–8, the major taxonomic and
ecological assemblages of fungi and funguslike organisms are discussed.
Chapter 9 describes various roles that fungi have in nature, including their role
as mycorrhizal associates of plants and their critical function in the
decomposition of dead plant material. Chapter 10 discusses the various types of
interactions that occur between fungi and animals, including the ants and
termites that “cultivate” certain fungi in much the same manner as farmers
cultivate crops. In Chapter 11, some of the more interesting or significant ways
in which fungi have been involved in human affairs are described. This includes
a consideration of fungi in the literature. Fungi have been around for a long time,
and Chapter 12 provides information on what is known about fungi in the fossil
record, including one seemingly improbable ancient fungus that was the largest
living terrestrial organism 400 million years ago.
In preparing this book, I have made use of the information found in a number
of textbooks on mycology. These include The Biology of Fungi (Ingold and
Hudson 1993), Introductory Mycology (Alexopoulos et al. 1996), The Fifth
Kingdom (Kendrick 2000), Fungal Biology (Deacon 2006), and Introduction to
Fungi (Webster and Weber 2007). Additional information was derived from
several field guides to the macrofungi. Among these are Mushrooms of North
America (Miller 1973), The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American
Mushrooms (Lincoff 1981), Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Central
Appalachians (Roody 2003), and North American Mushrooms (Miller and Miller
2006). The first of these is particularly significant because it was used in my
very first mycology course.