AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Mushrooms are fungi. They belong in a kingdom of their own, separate from plants and animals. Fungi differ from plants and animals in the way they obtain their nutrients. Generally, plants make their food using the sun’s energy (photosynthesis), while animals eat, then internally digest, their food.

Detailed explanation-2: -Most mushroom-producing fungi are members of the phylums Basidiomycota or Ascomycota. The technical difference between these groups has to do with how the spores develop, which can be detected only by using a microscope.

Detailed explanation-3: -Fungi are usually classified in four divisions: the Chytridiomycota (chytrids), Zygomycota (bread molds), Ascomycota (yeasts and sac fungi), and the Basidiomycota (club fungi). Placement into a division is based on the way in which the fungus reproduces sexually.

Detailed explanation-4: -Mushrooms are advanced members of a fungi group which belong to class Basidiomycetes. They grow on the dead and decaying matter like dung, old rotten logs which are rich in the organic matter. Therefore, they are saprophytic fungi.