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Like plants, fungi face two challenges in completing their life cycles. First, to maintain genetic diversity within populations, they must find other individuals to mate with. Second, they must be able to disperse from one place to another. The majority of fungi reproduce both sexually and asexually. Sexual reproduction in many fungi is characterized by a feature of the life cycle that distinguishes it from all other eukaryotes, and some asexual fungi have a unique way to generate genetic diversity. Fungal adaptations for dispersal broadly resemble those of plants. Fungi rely on wind, water, or animals to carry spores through the environment. Recall from Chapter 30 that spores are specialized cells well adapted for dispersal and long-term survival.

We most often come into contact with fungi through their reproductive structures. Fungal spores commonly cause respiratory illness, and mushrooms attract our attention because they are delicious or poisonous. Yet many aspects of fungal reproduction are not easily observed. In this section, we emphasize the most general principles and patterns.