1) There is no general answer to this. Most fungi are obligate aerobes, this means that they require oxygen for aerobic cellular respiration (mushrooms are fungi, lichens are a symbiotic association of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner, usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium). Most of them will need some kind of energy to *grow*. But some are able to survive in extremely aggressive conditions. It has been shown that lichens can survive for some time the aggressive conditions of interplanetary space (high vacuum, exposition to radiation). 2) "An aerobic organism or aerobe is an organism that can survive and grow in an oxygenated environment." "Types: - Obligate aerobes require oxygen for aerobic cellular respiration. In a process known as cellular respiration, these organisms use oxygen to oxidize substrates (for example sugars and fats) in order to obtain energy. - Facultative anaerobes can use oxygen, but also have anaerobic methods of energy production. - Microaerophiles are organisms that may use oxygen, but only at low concentrations. - Aerotolerant organisms can survive in the presence of oxygen, but they are anaerobic because they do not use it as a terminal electron acceptor." "Almost all animals, most fungi, and several bacteria are obligate aerobes. Most anaerobic organisms are bacteria. Being an obligate aerobe - although advantageous from the energetical point of view, also means obligatory exposure to high levels of oxidative stress. Yeast is an example of a facultative aerobe. Individual human cells are also facultative aerobes: they switch to lactic acid fermentation if oxygen is not available. However, for the whole organism this cannot be sustained for long, and humans are therefore obligate aerobes." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_organism 3) "A fungus (pronounced /ˈfʌŋgÉ™s/) is a eukaryotic organism that is a member of the kingdom Fungi (pronounced /ˈfÊŒndÊ’aɪ/). The fungi are a monophyletic group, also called the Eumycota ("true fungi" or eumycetes), that is phylogenetically distinct from the morphologically similar slime molds (myxomycetes) and water molds (oomycetes). The fungi are heterotrophic organisms possessing a chitinous cell wall, with the majority of fungal species growing as multicellular filaments called hyphae forming a mycelium; some fungal species also grow as single cells. Sexual and asexual reproduction of the fungi is commonly via spores, often produced on specialized structures or in fruiting bodies. Some species have lost the ability to form reproductive structures, and propagate solely by vegetative growth. Yeasts, molds, and mushrooms are examples of fungi. The fungi are more closely related to animals than plants, yet the discipline of biology devoted to the study of fungi, known as mycology, often falls under a branch of botany." "The major divisions (phyla) of fungi have been classified based mainly on the characteristics of their sexual reproductive structures. Currently, seven fungal divisions are proposed:" "Neocallimastigomycota The Neocallimastigomycota were earlier placed in the phylum Chytridomycota. Members of this small phylum are anaerobic organisms, living in the digestive system of larger herbivorous mammals and possibly in other terrestrial and aquatic environments. They lack mitochondria but contain hydrogenosomes of mitochondrial origin. As the related chrytrids, neocallimastigomycetes form zoospores that are posteriorly uniflagellate or polyflagellate." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungus 4) "Lichens (IPA: /ˈlaɪkÉ™n/ or /lɪtʃ.É™n/) are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic association of a fungus (the mycobiont) with a photosynthetic partner (the photobiont or phycobiont), usually either a green alga (commonly Trebouxia) or cyanobacterium (commonly Nostoc). The morphology, physiology and biochemistry of lichens are very different to that of the isolated fungus and alga in culture. Lichens occur in some of the most extreme environments on Earth—arctic tundra, hot deserts, rocky coasts and toxic slag heaps." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen "Like all living things lichens need nutrients and energy to grow. Nutrients they obtain from the air (including dust), water and some from the substrate they are growing on. Energy they obtain through photosynthesis, which is the role of the algal partner. They can also be incidentally fertilised by bird and insect dung." Source and further information: http://www.earthlife.net/lichens/growth.html "This experiment was aimed at establishing, for the first time, the survival capability of lichens exposed to space conditions. In particular, the damaging effect of various wavelengths of extraterrestrial solar UV radiation was studied. The lichens used were the bipolar species Rhizocarpon geographicum and Xanthoria elegans, which were collected above 2000 m in the mountains of central Spain and as endolithic communities inhabiting granites in the Antarctic Dry Valleys. Lichens were exposed to space in the BIOPAN-5 facility of the European Space Agency; BIOPAN-5 is located on the outer shell of the Earth-orbiting FOTON-M2 Russian satellite. The lichen samples were launched from Baikonur by a Soyuz rocket on May 31, 2005, and were returned to Earth after 16 days in space, at which time they were tested for survival. Chlorophyll fluorescence was used for the measurement of photosynthetic parameters. Scanning electron microscopy in back-scattered mode, low temperature scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy were used to study the organization and composition of both symbionts. Confocal laser scanning microscopy, in combination with the use of specific fluorescent probes, allowed for the assessment of the physiological state of the cells. All exposed lichens, regardless of the optical filters used, showed nearly the same photosynthetic activity after the flight as measured before the flight. Likewise, the multimicroscopy approach revealed no detectable ultrastructural changes in most of the algal and fungal cells of the lichen thalli, though a greater proportion of cells in the flight samples had compromised membranes, as revealed by the LIVE/DEAD BacLight Bacterial Viability Kit. These findings indicate that most lichenized fungal and algal cells can survive in space after full exposure to massive UV and cosmic radiation, conditions proven to be lethal to bacteria and other microorganisms. The lichen upper cortex seems to provide adequate protection against solar radiation. Moreover, after extreme dehydration induced by high vacuum, the lichens proved to be able to recover, in full, their metabolic activity within 24 hours." Source and further information: http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2006.0046 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&uid=17630840&cmd=showdetailview&indexed=google 5) "Algae (a Latin plural, singular Alga) are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms. The largest and most complex marine forms are called seaweeds. They are photosynthetic, like plants, and "simple" because they lack the many distinct organs found in land plants. For that reason they are currently excluded from being considered plants. Though the prokaryotic Cyanobacteria (commonly referred to as Blue-green Algae) were traditionally included as "Algae" in older textbooks, many modern sources regard this as outdated and restrict the term Algae to eukaryotic organisms. All true algae therefore have a nucleus enclosed within a membrane and chloroplasts bound in one or more membranes. Algae constitute a paraphyletic and polyphyletic group, as they do not include all the descendants of the last universal ancestor nor do they all descend from a common algal ancestor, although their chloroplasts seem to have a single origin. Algae lack the various structures that characterize land plants, such as phyllids and rhizoids in nonvascular plants, or leaves, roots, and other organs that are found in tracheophytes. Many are photoautotrophic, although some groups contain members that are mixotrophic, deriving energy both from photosynthesis and uptake of organic carbon either by osmotrophy, myzotrophy, or phagotrophy. Some unicellular species rely entirely on external energy sources and have limited or no photosynthetic apparatus. All algae have photosynthetic machinery ultimately derived from the Cyanobacteria, and so produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis, unlike other photosynthetic bacteria such as purple and green sulfur bacteria." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae 6) "A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta. The group is also referred to as Polypodiophyta, or Polypodiopsida when treated as a subdivision of tracheophyta (vascular plants)." "Fern species live in a wide variety of habitats, from remote mountain elevations, to dry desert rock faces, to bodies of water or in open fields. Ferns in general may be thought of as largely being specialists in marginal habitats, often succeeding in places where various environmental factors limit the success of flowering plants. Some ferns are among the world's most serious weed species, including the bracken fern growing in the British highlands, or the mosquito fern (Azolla) growing in tropical lakes, both species forming large aggressively spreading colonies. There are four particular types of habitats that ferns are found in: moist, shady forests; crevices in rock faces, especially when sheltered from the full sun; acid wetlands including bogs and swamps; and tropical trees, where many species are epiphytes. Many ferns depend on associations with mycorrhizal fungi. Many ferns only grow within specific pH ranges; for instance, the climbing fern (Lygodium) of eastern North America will only grow in moist, intensely acid soils, while the bulblet bladder fern (Cystopteris bulbifera), with an overlapping range, is only found on limestone." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern