Lesson 12 ·Class 9 · Economic Importance of Bacteria and Fungi · Sort Lab
Useful and Harmful Fungi
The same kingdom, both ways.
Sort each example by whether the fungus is helping us or harming us.
Sorted 0/10
All items sorted — check each bin.
VS
Free play — sort every item into the bin it belongs in; each correct drop tells you why. Switch to when you're ready to test yourself.
Notice that decay appears in both columns. Whether a fungus helps or harms often depends only on what it is decaying.
What this lesson covers
Challenges to clear
- Sort every example.
- Fill the Useful column — the fungi that feed and heal us.
The task
Sort each example by whether the fungus is helping us or harming us.
What this lesson covers
- Useful: Penicillium yielding the antibiotic penicillin (It has saved an incalculable number of lives.); Yeast making bread rise (The CO₂ it releases is trapped in the dough.); Mushrooms grown as food (Rich in protein and vitamins, and low in fat.); Moulds ripening Roquefort and Camembert cheese (They develop the flavour and texture deliberately.); Fungi decomposing dead leaves in a forest (Nutrient recycling — without it the forest would starve.)
- Harmful: Puccinia causing rust disease in wheat (It can destroy a large part of a harvest.); Smut attacking maize and bajra (The grain is replaced by a mass of black spores.); Fungi causing ringworm and athlete's foot (Skin infections that spread by contact.); Moulds spoiling bread, jam and leather (The same decay process, working on things we wanted to keep.); Aspergillus producing aflatoxin on badly stored groundnuts (A poison that damages the liver — which is why damp storage is dangerous.)
Hint
Notice that decay appears in both columns. Whether a fungus helps or harms often depends only on what it is decaying.