Check the baggies at 24-hour intervals to monitor microbial growth.
Observe what has grown on your substrate. How many different types of colonies can you see?
Only one, on the sour cream.
Part 2: Microscopic Observation – Wet Mount
Prepare a wet-mount of your 4 samples and observe with your microscope. Record your observations.
Looked like steel wool, lots of fie looking jagged black hairs.
Part 3: Microscopic Observation – Simple Stain
Observe your stained specimen with your microscope. Record your observations. Repeat for the remaining samples.
Questions:
A. What are hyphae? A mycelium?
A hyphae is a tube like structure with rigid cell walls that protects the cell membrane.
A mycelium is the thread-like hyphae intertwine to form a tangled structure.
B. What is the difference between a septate hyphae and a non-septate hyphae?
Septate hyphae have cross-walls that divide the cytoplasm into segments.
Non-septate hyphae are long, continuous tubes of cytoplasm. There are no septa that roughly distinguish one cell from another.
C. List the four main classifications of fungi and describe each
Chytridiomycota are the smallest and simplest fungi. Chytridiomycota are primarily aquatic organisms. Most of them are decomposers, but some of them can be plant pathogens.
Zygomycota live in soil or on decaying plants or animals. Some form relationships with plants, but many are parasites of plants, insects, and animals. Ascomycota is the largest and most diverse group of fungi. These include edible fungi, blue and green molds and lichen.
Basidiomycota is a division group that produces spores on a stick, or club-like structure and is known as club fungi. Mushrooms, shelf fungi, and puffballs are all basidiomycota. While some club fungi are edible, majority are poisonous.
D. What type of fungi would you find in the group deuteromycota?
Deuteromycota includes all fungi which have lost the ability to reproduce sexually. Many of the species placed in Deuteromycota are later reclassified into one of the four primary groups once they have been studied more thoroughly.
E. What is a lichen? Lichens are not a single organism. They are a symbiotic association between a fungus and algae. The fungal partner is
