Symbiotic Fungus Families

Symbiotic Fungus Families is a Browse By group of the Nature Atlas that gathers families of fungi whose way of life depends on a partnership with another organism, such as Parmeliaceae, the largest family of lichen-forming fungi, which live with a green alga, and Russulaceae, whose mushroom-forming members form ectomycorrhizal partnerships with the roots of forest trees. An entry belongs here when its own cited article states that the family is known for a symbiotic association, either lichen-forming or mycorrhizal. It excludes families known mainly for decay, parasitism or other ways of life. The group lets a reader compare the two best-known fungal partnerships, the lichen in which a fungus shelters an alga and the mycorrhiza in which a fungus trades nutrients with a tree.