抄録
The first part of this review is a brief historic introduction of the taxonomic position of macro-fungi. The second part presents the ecological role of macro-fungi from the viewpoint of mycorrhiza. From the 18th century to early 20th century, organisms were recognized in a simplified two-kingdom system; Animalia and Plantae. In this system fungi are classified into the Plantae. In 1969, the five kingdom-system comprised of plantae, animalia and fungi was proposed and each of them was developed based on unique evolutionary schemes. Today, the results of molecular systematics show polyphyletism among the fungi in the five-kingdom system; there are "true-fungi" and "pseudo-fungi". True-fungi can be classified into 4 groups; Basidiomycota, Ascomycota, Zygomycota and Chytridiomycota. "Macro-fungi" belong to the true-fungi; some belong to the Basidiomycota and others to the Ascomycota. The ecological role of macro-fungi is discussed from the viewpoint of saprophytes. The importance of macro-fungi as a symbiont (mycorrhiza) of land plants has been gradually recognized and now we cannot discuss the ecological system of the land without considering the mycorrhiza.
In this review, the mycorrhizal type of land plants is overviewed and the ecological role of macro-fungi as mycorrhiza in the ecosystem is discussed.
