Is Fungi Abiotic or biotic? 5 facts you should know

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In this article, we will illustrate the different fact s about fungi and clarify about is fungi abiotic or biotic.

Fungi is the living organisms. Abiotic name indicated about non-living. So, fungi are biotic.All the organisms which are living in an ecosystem are biotic in nature. Biotic and abiotic factors made up whole ecosystem. Biotics factors are living parts like animals, plants, algae and bacteria of the ecosystem. Abiotic factors such as air, temperature, sunlight, minerals are non-living part of ecosystem.

Are fungi abiotic?

Fungi are biotic factor of ecosystem. Biotic factors include peoples, animals, fungi, bacteria etc. Abiotic factors are non-living component of ecosystem mainly include soil, water, temperature and weather.

In addition to this, there are many abiotic factors that will affect the growth and multiplication of fungi in the environment. Various abiotic factors like pH, clay minerals, particulates in air, and soluble organic matter.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi symbiotically associated with vascular plants roots living in soil plays a key role for fungi. Abiotic factor in this association like water availability, physio-chemical properties of soil. Soil translocation can be determining factor for mycorrhizal fungi growth. Soil pH reaction has big impact on the mobility of ions in soil dilution and their uptake by plant and soil microflora. Excess amount of water can be the limiting factor for the mycorrhizal fungi density in an area.

Is fungi abiotic
fungi collage from Wikipedia

Are all fungi biotic?

Biotic factor is the living organisms that shapes the environments. To create the environment to complete biotic and abiotic both factors are required equally. Fungi are placed above the prokaryotic group as advanced group. Fungi are living bearing the important features of living thing as growth, movement, food uptake, metabolic reactions and many more.

The method of germination of fungi are uses spores, spread widely. Hyphae, body of mycelium absorb nutrients from host (substrate), spread, grow and produce fruiting bodies( reproductive stage). Fungi obtain their food( nutrition) from other organisms like dead organic matter or from living organisms.

Fungi are habitants in the soils due to their capacity of high plasticity and to adapt various forms to the adverse or unfavorable conditions. They can get food from various organic matters because they had wide variety of extracellular enzymes. These extracellular enzymes are able to break down all kinds of organic matter, degrading soil components and thus maintaining the balance of carbon and nutrients.

How are fungi biotic?

Fungi play important biotic component of the ecosystem. Fungi are both micro and microorganisms having high degree of functional diversity and high degree variation in dispersal modes.

It is also believed that fungi act as a mediator link between different organisms and ecosystem. This indicates that fungal interactions with other organisms plays a key in the ecosystem, connect various biological level and ecological organization of their hosts, competitors, and antagonists with the environment.

Fungi can be proved by the soil dwelling fungus (grow into the soil) that exists as a mycelium (growth phase) push their way into the soil matrix, which on further produces a fruitbody in the shape of a mushroom that connect habitats between the atmosphere and soil.

Fungi biotic factors

Our ecosystem is made up of biotic and abiotic factors. A healthy ecosystem made of producers as well as consumers. The biotic components of the ecosystem also made up of decomposers like fungus and bacteria. We will discuss here different biotic factors that helps to understand how they impact an ecosystem?

Plants

Most of the ecosystem depend on the plants to get energy and nutrition as plants make their own food by photosynthesis with the help of water and carbon dioxide gas from atmosphere. The fungi and plant association example are of mycorrhiza.

Mycorrhiza is a symbiotic association of fungus which grow (inhabitant) in or on the plants’ roots. The fungus benefited to get food made by the plants. In turns plants get benefitted as mycelia of fungus helps to absorb water and nutrient from the soil.

Animals

Some fungi have mutualistic relationship with the animals. For example: Leafcutter ants is an insect that grow fungi on the leaves that form beds in the nests. Fungi get protected from the external environments, in return of this favor’s ant feed the fungi for mentheir larvae.

Ambrosia beetles’ inhabitants in the tree holes and fungal spores present in the tree holes. The bark hole gives the fungi a suitable place to grow. The beetles harvest (take up) fungi from their “garden”.

Algae

Lichens is the mutual association of fungus (member of Ascomycetes or Basidiomycetes) and photosynthetic organisms (an eukaryotic alga or a prokaryotic cyanobacteria). The photosynthetic organisms provide carbon and energy in the carbohydrate form. In favor of it, the fungus supplies minerals and protection from excessive and dryness light.

Bacteria

Fungal- bacterial endosymbiosis encompasses the mutual relationship between a fungus and intracellular bacteria species living within the fungus. Well studied examples includes Burkholderia species and Rhizopus microspous, Nostoc punctiforme and Geosiphon pyriforme, Candidatus glomeribacyer gigasporarum and Gigaspora margarita.

Summary

To wrap up our post, we can state that fungi are biotic component of the ecosystem. Fungi interact with the abiotic factor to sustain or grow.

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