Characteristics Of The Slime Mold Or Physarum Polycephald

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Mold is a group of fungus that are a decomposer in nature. They are basically a single celled organism with thousands of nuclei. They nearly have the same life cycle as fungi. They are made up of filaments, called hyphae.They can be found in shady, damp areas outdoors, like rotting logs, or any place with decomposing vegetation. There are also parasitic molds, that live off a host. . Mold can reproduce with itself, asexually, and with other molds, which would be sexual reproduction. They use single celled bodies, called spores, to do this. Mold can have aerial spores, or even spores in the water, from water molds. Bacteria can communicate with each other. Spores are extremely versatile, and can even go dormant, for up to 75 years, and then still germinate. The have receptors that can detect positive or negative chemicals. They can sense the environment, and make decisions. I think mold will be able to have the same social interactions, and be able to know where, and where not to go. A well studied mold is the slime mold, or Physarum polycephalum. This mold, like many other inhabits shady, moist areas, such as under decaying logs. It is usually yellow in color, and eats bacteria, fungal spores, and other microbes. To consume its food, it surrounds it, and uses enzymes to break it down. Since it consumes food like this, it is not harmful. As food starts to run out, it goes into its reproductive state. Physarum polycephalum can anticipate changes. Even though they do not have a brain, or central nervous system. It can anticipate change, when dealing with its environment. I always wonder if organisms like this can think at all. Also, if we were once like this mold, as we did start as small organisms. As we e...

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