Editing Mycology (section)

== Overview ==
The word ''mycology'' comes from the [[Greek language|Ancient Greek]]: [[wikt:μύκης|μύκης]] (''mukēs''), meaning "fungus" and the suffix {{lang|grc|[[wikt:-λογία|-λογία]]}} (''-logia''), meaning "study."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Henry |first=Alexander |title=A Glossary of Scientific Terms for General Use |year=1861 |isbn=9781164123880 |pages=113}}</ref> Pioneer mycologists included [[Elias Magnus Fries]], [[Christiaan Hendrik Persoon]], [[Heinrich Anton de Bary]], [[Elizabeth Eaton Morse]], and [[Lewis David de Schweinitz]]. [[Beatrix Potter]], author of ''[[The Tale of Peter Rabbit]]'', also made significant contributions to the field.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Casadevall A, Kontoyiannis DP, Robert V | title = On the Emergence of ''Candida auris'': Climate Change, Azoles, Swamps, and Birds | language = en-us | journal = mBio | volume = 10 | issue = 4 | date = July 2019 | pages = 1786–1787 | pmc = 6711238 | doi = 10.3201/eid2509.ac2509 | pmid = 31337723 }}</ref>

[[Pier Andrea Saccardo]] developed a system for classifying the [[Deuteromycota|imperfect fungi]] by spore color and form, which became the primary system used before classification by [[Genetic fingerprinting|DNA analysis]]. He is most famous for his ''Sylloge Fungorum'',<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.5371 |title=Sylloge fungorum omnium hucusque cognitorum |date=1882 |last1=Saccardo |first1=P. A. |last2=Traverso |first2=G. B. |last3=Trotter |first3=A. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/102125 }}{{page needed|date=July 2024}}</ref> which was a comprehensive list of all of the [[Binomial nomenclature|names]] that had been used for [[mushrooms]]. ''Sylloge'' is still the only work of this kind that was both comprehensive for the [[Kingdom (biology)|botanical kingdom]] [[Fungus|Fungi]] and reasonably modern.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bolman |first1=Brad |title=What mysteries lay in spore: taxonomy, data, and the internationalization of mycology in Saccardo's Sylloge Fungorum |journal=The British Journal for the History of Science |date=September 2023 |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=369–390 |doi=10.1017/S0007087423000158 |pmid=37248705 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Many fungi produce [[toxin]]s,<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Wilson BJ | title = Microbial Toxins| volume = 6: Fungal Toxins | veditors = Ciegler A, Kadis S, Ajl SJ | publisher = Academic Press | location = New York | date = 1971 | page = 251 }}</ref> [[antibiotics]],<ref name="Brian1951">{{cite journal |last1=Brian |first1=P. W. |title=Antibiotics produced by fungi |journal=The Botanical Review |date=June 1951 |volume=17 |issue=6 |pages=357–430 |doi=10.1007/BF02879038 |bibcode=1951BotRv..17..357B }}</ref> and other [[secondary metabolism|secondary metabolites]]. For example, the [[cosmopolitan distribution|cosmopolitan]] genus ''[[Fusarium]]'' and their toxins associated with fatal outbreaks of alimentary toxic aleukia in humans were extensively studied by [[Abraham Z. Joffe]].<ref name="JoffeYagen1978">{{cite journal |last1=Joffe |first1=Abraham Z. |last2=Yagen |first2=Boris |title=Intoxication produced by toxic fungi Fusarium poae and F. sporotrichioides on chicks |journal=Toxicon |date=January 1978 |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=263–273 |doi=10.1016/0041-0101(78)90087-9 |pmid=653754 |bibcode=1978Txcn...16..263J }}</ref>

Fungi are fundamental for life on earth in their roles as [[symbiosis|symbionts]], e.g. in the form of [[mycorrhiza]]e, [[insect]] symbionts, and [[lichen]]s. Many fungi are able to break down complex [[organic compound|organic]] [[biomolecules]] such as [[lignin]], the more durable component of [[wood]], and pollutants such as [[xenobiotic]]s, [[petroleum]], and [[polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon]]s. By decomposing these molecules, fungi play a critical role in the global [[carbon cycle]].

Fungi and other organisms traditionally recognized as fungi, such as [[oomycetes]] and myxomycetes ([[slime molds]]), often are economically and socially important, as some [[Fungal disease|cause diseases]] of animals (including humans) and of plants.<ref name="De Lucca 2007 pp. 3–13">{{cite journal | vauthors = De Lucca AJ | title = Harmful fungi in both agriculture and medicine | journal = Revista Iberoamericana de Micologia | volume = 24 | issue = 1 | pages = 3–13 | date = March 2007 | pmid = 17592884 }}</ref>

Apart from pathogenic fungi, many fungal species are very important in controlling the plant diseases caused by different pathogens. For example, species of the filamentous fungal genus ''[[Trichoderma]]'' are considered one of the most important biological control agents as an alternative to chemical-based products for effective crop disease management.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ruano-Rosa |first1=David |last2=Prieto |first2=Pilar |last3=Rincón |first3=Ana María |last4=Gómez-Rodríguez |first4=María Victoria |last5=Valderrama |first5=Raquel |last6=Barroso |first6=Juan Bautista |last7=Mercado-Blanco |first7=Jesús |title=Fate of Trichoderma harzianum in the olive rhizosphere: time course of the root colonization process and interaction with the fungal pathogen Verticillium dahliae |journal=BioControl |date=June 2016 |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=269–282 |doi=10.1007/s10526-015-9706-z |bibcode=2016BioCo..61..269R }}</ref>

Field meetings to find interesting species of fungi are known as 'forays', after the first such meeting organized by the [[Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club]] in 1868 and entitled "A foray among the funguses{{Sic|}}".<ref>{{cite journal |author=Anon |title=A foray among the funguses |journal=Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club |volume=1868 |year=1868 |pages=184–192 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/44662#page/254/mode/1up |publisher=Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club. |access-date=2018-01-14 |archive-date=2018-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106214608/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/44662#page/254/mode/1up |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some fungi can cause disease in humans and other animals; the study of [[pathogenic fungi]] that infect animals is referred to as [[pathogenic fungi|medical mycology]].<ref name= SanBlasCalderone>{{cite book |last1=San-Blas |first1=Gioconda |last2=Calderone |first2=Richard A. |title=Pathogenic Fungi: Insights in Molecular Biology |date=2008 |publisher=Caister Academic Press |isbn=978-1-913652-13-5 }}{{page needed|date=July 2024}}</ref>