Australian Biological Resources Study
Poster - Fungi and their Kingdoms | Poster - Fungi and the Environment
The word 'fungi' is used here in a very broad sense, to include a wide variety of organisms. The fungi show a great variety of form with species ranging from simple, single-celled organisms to very complex multicellular organisms. Given the wide array of fungal forms and lifestyles, it is not surprising that the different groups of fungi have quite different evolutionary histories. In fact the organisms called fungi occur across three Kingdoms: Protoctista, Chromista and Eumycota. In this section classification and its hierarchical structure is discussed.
Fungi have a number of different lifestyles. However, one thing common to all of them is that they do not make their own food but must feed on pre-existing organic matter. Fungi that feed on dead organic matter are called saprotrophs. Parasites are those that get their nutrients from other living organisms, with no benefit to the other organism. There are many fungi that get their nutrients from other living organisms, but with some benefit to the other organism. These are the mutualistic fungi.
