Question

Fungi and animals are both heterotrophs. What does this mean?

How do fungi and animals generally differ in how they obtain food?

Explain why fungi are important ecologically and also include a specific way they are important to humans

Answer 1

1. Fungi and animals are heterotrophs as they cannot synthesize the organic nutrients they need and get them by feeding on the tissues of producers or other consumers. Heterotrophs can be classified into consumer and decomposer.

2. Fungi externally produce enzymes to digest the food followed by absorption whereas in animals food is internally digested and followed by absorption of nutrients.

3. Fungi is the important role in biospheres as they are the part of the nutrient cycle in an ecosystem and helps in decomposing plant debris like cellulose and lignin. Apart from ecological benefits, they also help in controlling the population of damaging pests, mutualistic association between fungi and plants roots are important for land productivity, also used in fermentation to produce beers and wines, as they naturally kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria they are also used in medical sectors example: Penicillin and cephalosporins.