Nutrition In Fungi

All fungi lack chorophyll and are heterotrophs (obtaining carbon and energy from organic matter). They obtain their food by direct absorption from the immediate environment and are thus absorptive heterotrophs. Most fungi are saprotrophs, decomposes that obtain their food (energy, carbon and nitrogen) directly from dead organic matter. and the organic molecules thus produced are absorbed back into the fungus. Saprobic fungi anchor to the subtract by modified hyphae, the rhizoid. Fungi are the principal decomposes of cellulose and lignin, the main components of plant cell walls ( most bacteria cannot break them). Extensive system of fast growing hyphae provides enormous surface for absorptive mode of nutrition. Saprobic fungi, along with bacteria, are the major decomposers of the biosphere, contributing to the recycling of the elements (C, N, P, O, H etc.) used by living things.