Fungus, any of about 144,000 known species of organisms of the kingdom Fungi, including yeasts, mildews, molds, and mushrooms. Fungi are some of the most widely distributed organisms on Earth and are of great environmental and medical importance. Learn more about their life cycles, evolution, taxonomy, and features.

Fungi (singular: fungus) are a kingdom of usually multicellular eukaryotic organisms that are heterotrophs (cannot make their own food) and have important roles in nutrient cycling in an ecosystem. Fungi reproduce both sexually and asexually, and they also have symbiotic associations with plants and bacteria.

Fungi (singular: fungus) are one of the kingdoms of life in biology, along with animals, plants, protists, bacteria, and archaebacteria. Examples of fungi include yeast, mushrooms, toadstools (poisonous mushrooms), and molds. The scientific study of fungi is called mycology.

Fungus - Classification, Types, Reproduction: Since the 1990s, dramatic changes have occurred in the classification of fungi. Improved understanding of relationships of fungi traditionally placed in the phyla Chytridiomycota and Zygomycota has resulted in the dissolution of outmoded taxons and the generation of new taxons.

Fungi are eukaryotic organisms that include microorganisms such as yeasts, moulds and mushrooms. These organisms are classified under kingdom fungi. The organisms found in Kingdom fungi contain a cell wall and are omnipresent. They are classified as heterotrophs among the living organisms.

Fungi belong to their own kingdom of life. It contains an estimated 2.2 to 3.8 million species, of which only 148,000 species or so have been described. Fungi used to be seen as simple plants, but scientists now realise that they are more closely related to animals than plants. Thousands of new fungal species are discovered every year.

Fungi thrive in environments that are moist and slightly acidic, and can grow with or without light. They vary in their oxygen requirement. Most fungi are obligate aerobes, requiring oxygen to survive.

Fungi, once considered plant-like organisms, are more closely related to animals than plants. Fungi are not capable of photosynthesis: they are heterotrophic because they use complex organic compounds as sources of energy and carbon. Fungi share a few other traits with animals.

Rapid advances in molecular biology and the sequencing of 18S rRNA (ribosomal RNA) continue to show new and different relationships among the various categories of fungi.