Power Washing Services By Pro-Maid's

The Most Common Question is: What Is That Wall, Roof, Deck?

Any of numerous eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom includes the yeasts, molds, smuts, and mushrooms.

Fun-gus
n,FUN-GIUN-GI or fun-fungus-es.

Fungus is the third kingdom of this world, living, yet neither plant or animal.

Fungi can be divided in three groups: symbiotic, mycorrhiza, and saprophytic. (saprophytic is the
fungus most common on roofs) It is absolutely an essential part of our ecosystem, while some species
are responsible for serious diseases in plants and animals without it the entire planet would die! Fungus is
a global structure, so when you remove the fungus from your buildings, even if you think you killed it, all
you really did is scrape a few cells off of this global structure, from our perspective we don't notice it as
much growing on the bark of a tree or in the soil as we do on freshly painted wall or roof.

Fungi are a group of organisms that exist as a vast network of tiny threads growing in and out of all kinds
of organic matter. As they grow, the threads secrete enzymes the break down the substances around
them, releasing nutrients into the environment. Without fungi, the world would be completely covered
with growth. All plants would die.

The invisible fungal structure may be extremely large, often extending for miles as, for example, the
occurring in the north central United States, weighs roughly 11 tons and occupies over 37 acres. Scientists
have determined this fungus is more than 1500 years old, it is on of the oldest and largest organisms on
earth, and its mostly underground, so don't plan your vacations around it.

Basic Introduction
There are few species of fungi relative to others organisms. However, fungi are everywhere and can
utilize just about any material for food such as your house One reason that they seem to occur everywhere
is that they produce large number of spores that often can be dispersed long distances. Moreover, fungus
spores also have other attributes that ensure the survival of fungi. Spores are often less susceptible to
adverse environmental conditions are optimal for their survival.

Disease of plants, especially in coll humid regions, caused by several fungi, including species of
Basidiophora, Uremia, Peronospora, Phytophthora, Plasmopara, Pseudoperonospora, and Sclerospora.
White, gray, bluish, or violet downy patches of mildew from mostly on the undersides of leaves in damp
weather. Pale-green to yellow or brown areas usually develop on the upper leaf surface opposite the
downy growth. Affected leaves often wilt, wither, and die early. Stems, flowers, and fruits are sometimes
infected. Seedlings may wilt and collapse. Garden plants, bush fruits, vegetables, and certain trees,
shrubs, field crops, and weeds are susceptible.

Long classified together in the Myxomycophyta as part of the Fungi, Slime "molds" are now know to be
quite unrelated to the fungi. There are three main groups of slime molds, which do not form a clad.
Plasmodial slime molds, are basically enormous single cells with thousands of nuclei. They are formed
when individual flagellated cells swarm together and fuse. The result is one large bag of cytoplasm with
many diploid nuclei. There "giant cells" have been extremely useful in studies of cytoplasmic streaming
(the movement of cell contents) because it is possible to see this happening even under relatively low
magnification. In addition, the large size of the slime mold "cell" makes them easier to manipulate then
most cells.

A second group, the cellular slime molds, spend most of their lives as separate single celled amoeboid
protists, but upon the release of a chemical to cell and developmental biologists, because they provide a
comparatively simple and easily manipulated system for understanding how cells interact to generate a
multi cellular organism. There are two groups of cellular slime molds, the Dictyostelida and the Acrasida,
which may not be closely related to each other.

What these three groups have in common is a life cycle that superficially resembles that of the fungi.
When conditions become unfavorable, these slime mold from sporangia clusters of spores, often on the
tips of stalks. Spores from the sporangia are dispersed to new habitals, "germinate" into small amoebae,
and the life cycle begins. Similarities in the life cycle do not, imply a close relationship, certain bacteria
(the myxobacteria) and even an unusual ciliate have very similar life cycles, aggregating to form spores
on a sporangium.

Slime molds have almost no fossil record. Not only do slime molds produce few resistant structures
(except for spores, which are often overlooked or unidentifiable, but they live in most terrestrial habitats,
such as on decaying wood or fresh cow dung, where their potential for preservation is low. Some fossil
slime molds have been found in amber.

Lichens are unusual creatures. A lichens is not a single organism the way most other living things are, but
rather it is a combination of two organisms which live together intimately. Most of the lichen is composed
of fungal filaments, but living among the filaments are algal cells, usually from a green alga or a
cyanobctecterium.

In many cases the fungus and the alga which together make the lichen may each be found living in nature
without its partner, but many other lichens include a fungus which cannot survive on its own it has become
dependent on its algal partner for survival. In all cases though, the appearance of the fungus in the lichen
is quite different from its morphology as a separately growing individual.

* DIVISION: BASIDIOMYCOTA

This group of about 16,000 species, know as the club fungi, includes the most familiar fungi: mushrooms,
toadstools, stinkhorns, puffballs, and shelf fungi. Division Basidiomycota also includes two groups of
important plant pests rusts and smuts. Several of these parasites affect agricultural crops, particularly
cereals and grains.

* Botany.
a. Rust fungus.
2. A plant disease caused by a rust fungus, characterized by reddish or brownish spots on leaves.

* also see rust oxidation

Dangers
Fungi also cause a number of plant and animal diseases: in humans, ringworm, athlete's foot, and several
more serious diseases are caused by fungi. Because fungi are more chemically and genetically similar to
animals than other organisms, this makes fungal diseases very difficult to treat. Plant diseases caused by
fungi include rusts, smuts, and leaf, root, and stem rots, and may cause severe damage to crops. However,
a number of fungi, in particular the yeasts, are important "model organisms" for studying problems in
genetics and molecular biology.

Because of the rarity of the few fungal pathogens that can infect people, the general public has little
knowledge of these sometimes fatal diseases, and it is something with which they should be aware.

The diseases of warm blooded animals caused by fungi are know as mycoses (sing.=mycosis). Although
such diseases are relatively few, the fungi that cause them have a wide host as well as geographical range.
Most of these diseases are not fatal, but once contracted, they may forever be a source of constant irritation
and can lead to permanent scaring.

Can cleaning up mold be hazardous to my health?

Yes. Mold spore counts are more than a 1000 times higher than background levels during the cleaning of
moldy materials.

* If cleaning indoors, use a mask or respirator to protect you from breathing airborne spores.
* Wear protective safety gear & clothing that is easily cleaned or discarded.
* Ask bystanders to leave areas when being cleaned.
* wash hands and face.