The Ecology of Fungi: Producers of Mycotoxins

Fungi are omnipresent organisms. There is no media where they are not present. Fungi have broad adaptive properties and therefore occupy most varied ecological niches which are most frequently inaccessible for other microorganisms. They are present in the environment in the form of diaspores, i.e. germs. The Function of the latter can be performed by special spores, bits of a vegetative body -- mycelium or pieces of the fruit body which are cells specialized for multiplication. Fungi can be isolated from air, soil, water, plants, from different industrial materials and commodities, from any objects in nature or in a premise. In one case fungi find conditions and develop on these substrates. In other cases they make use of the substrate as a support and develop only after being carried by the air, by water or animals to objects which are favorable for their life.