Fungus

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of fungi have been reported in Arctic and Antarctic areas (some molds, after all, thrive on refrigerated food). There are about 50,000 known species of .
Although any single typical may not be uniform in appearance--a mushroom, for example, has a cap, stem, and rootlike components--it has, in fact, a uniform structure throughout. The typical consists of a mass of tubular, branched filaments, or strands, called hyphae (singular, hypha). The mass of hyphae is called the mycelium, and it is this that makes up the thallus, or body, of the .
In order to grow, the mycelium uses the organic matter, either living or dead, in its environment. As the mycelium matures, it forms spores. These are seedlike reproductive bodies, each normally consisting of one cell, that become detached from the parent and start new organisms. As the spore grows, it develops into a hypha that branches out and eventually forms the mycelium of a new . In some fungi the spores may be produced directly by any ...

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32°F (0°C) or below.
The reproduction of fungi can be either sexual or asexual. Sexual reproduction, as with other organisms, involves the fusion of two nuclei when two sex cells unite. This joining produces spores that can grow into new organisms. Asexual reproduction is by fragmentation, cell division, or budding. The simplest process is direct fragmentation, or breaking up, of the fungus body, the thallus. Each of the fragments develops into a new individual organism if environmental conditions are favorable. Such fragmentation usually is the result of outside natural forces. Some yeasts, which are single-celled fungi, reproduce by simple cell division. A yeast cell divides into two ...

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