especially amoeba. The predatory fungi can live parasitically either on their host’s
surface or inside the host’s body.
However, predation is not the only means of nutrition used by carnivorous fungi.
If suitable prey is unavailable, these fungi can feed by regular organotrophic
nourishment. Much of the research on carnivorous fungi was conducted by C. L.
Duddington in Great Britain, with an example being Duddington and Wyborn
(1972), and by Charles Drechsler in the USA, who discovered and studied many
predatory fungi during the period between 1935 and 1959, with examples of his
work being Drechsler (1941) and Drechsler (1934). However, the genus Zoophagus
was described as early as 1911 by Hermann Sommerstorff (Sommerstorff 1911).
Predation in nature is in some respects a positive phenomenon, as it liquidates weak
and sick animals that would otherwise perish just the same.
A special type of predation is cannibalism, when animals of the same species
devour each other. Another term used to describe this is intraspecies predation. It
was established that, for instance, the Gram-positive sporulating bacterium Bacillus
subtilis does in certain times kill cells of its own species and feeds upon them
(González-Pastor 2011).
Vladimír Klaban
15 Microscopic World and the Phenomenon of Symbiosis in the Natural Environment
257
surface or inside the host’s body.
However, predation is not the only means of nutrition used by carnivorous fungi.
If suitable prey is unavailable, these fungi can feed by regular organotrophic
nourishment. Much of the research on carnivorous fungi was conducted by C. L.
Duddington in Great Britain, with an example being Duddington and Wyborn
(1972), and by Charles Drechsler in the USA, who discovered and studied many
predatory fungi during the period between 1935 and 1959, with examples of his
work being Drechsler (1941) and Drechsler (1934). However, the genus Zoophagus
was described as early as 1911 by Hermann Sommerstorff (Sommerstorff 1911).
Predation in nature is in some respects a positive phenomenon, as it liquidates weak
and sick animals that would otherwise perish just the same.
A special type of predation is cannibalism, when animals of the same species
devour each other. Another term used to describe this is intraspecies predation. It
was established that, for instance, the Gram-positive sporulating bacterium Bacillus
subtilis does in certain times kill cells of its own species and feeds upon them
(González-Pastor 2011).
Vladimír Klaban
15 Microscopic World and the Phenomenon of Symbiosis in the Natural Environment
257