About the Book: An Introduction to Fungi: 4th Edition
The book deals with fungi, deftly defined as "theorganismsstudied by
mycologists".The fungi are now placed underthreekingdoms: Fungi, Protozoa and
Chromista/Straminopila due totheirphylogenetic heterogeneity. In the last
decade, world wideresearchprojects: the "Deep Hypha" and AFTOL (Assembling the
FungalTree ofLife), have provided a phylogenetic classification based
ongeneticrelatedness as evidenced by DNA sequencing data. TheEumycotanfungi, the
Protozoan fungi and the Chromistan fungirepresentdistinct monophyletic groups.
i.e. each group has a commonancestorand all are its descendants. The
classification offered byabovemega research projects and accepted by Dictionary
of Fungi(2008)and leading international journals, forms the basis of
thisbook.There are many surprises: Fungi and Animalia together formamonophyletic
group. But there