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| Question: What do fungi feed on? |
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| Answer:
Fungi, which are
not green plants because they do not contain chlorophyll, cannot
make their own food and so must rely on other things. Most fungi
feed on the remains of dead plants and animals. They are decomposers
and change dead things into humus which is rich in nutrients
that plants use as food. Soil with plenty of humus in it grows
strong plants. Occasionally a fungus can grow on living things, if the spores (its method of reproducing) are carried by the wind and land on a tree, for example, where there is a good supply of warmth and moisture. You can sometimes see this with the bracket fungus. Mould is a fungus and cannot make its own food. It must use the food made by other plants, e.g. bread mould uses the starch in the bread. Fruit where the skin has been damaged is open to mould growth. |
