AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Fungi cannot make their own food like plants can, since they do not have chloroplasts and cannot carry out photosynthesis. Fungi are more like animals because they are heterotrophs, as opposed to autotrophs, like plants, that make their own food.

Detailed explanation-2: -Mushrooms aren’t really plants, they are types of fungi that have a “plantlike” form-with a stem and cap (they have cell walls as well). This is really just the “flower or fruit” of the mushroom-the reproductive part which disperses the spores.

Detailed explanation-3: -Plants have chlorophyll. Fungi do not have chlorophyll. Most of the plants have roots, leaves and stems. The fungal body includes hyphae (they interconnect to form mycelium).

Detailed explanation-4: -The mushroom’s spores are delicate, dark, dust, microscopic and usually single-celled. Spores come in various shapes and sizes due to various mushroom species. As we discussed, most mushrooms are from the two phyla, Basidiomycota or Ascomycota. These two phyla have different spore-bearing structures.

Detailed explanation-5: -Mushrooms are heterotrophs (i.e., they cannot perform photosynthesis). Consequently, they feed on organic matter. Chemical energy and useful materials are obtained from the digestion of substrates. Fungi are versatile in producing lytic enzymes active on many types of chemical bonds.