1. Can a fungus have both forcible discharge of spores and air dispersal? Explain.
2. Why do coprophilic fungi such as Pilobolus and Basidiobolus rely on forcible discharge of their sporangia? Are their sporangiospores air dispersed? Why would this be an advantage or a disadvantage?
3. What are three factors that determine how long air dispersed spores remain airborne?
4. Soil fungi generally are thought to have smaller spores than leaf plant pathogens. What are the advantages of smaller spores to the soil fungi and the larger spores to the leaf pathogens?
5a. For what fungi is water essential for dispersal?
b. Other fungi that rely on water dispersal produce tetraradiate spores. What are these and how do they function in water dispersal?
6. List two ways that animals disperse fungi.
7a. Define what is meant by constitutive dormancy versus exogenous dormancy?
b. Describe how these two types of dormancy differ in terms of the conditions required to release the spores from dormancy.
8. Both light and dark are triggers that activate particular plant pathogens. What would be the advantage of having light as a trigger? For having dark as a trigger?
9. Following release of spores, what are two ways that spores come to rest?
10. How does the hydrophobic nature of a spore surface affect where it will land when it is picked up by a falling rain drop?