#spores

• Aerobiology — An interdisciplinary branch of biology that deals with the study of living organisms and particles of biological origin (such as bacteria, fungi, pollen, spores, cysts, and viruses) passively transported through the air, as well as with the analysis of their movement, survival, and impact on the environment and human health.
• Aeropalynology — A branch of palynology that studies spores, pollen grains, and other microparticles of plant or fungal origin suspended in Earth's atmosphere and transported by air currents. This discipline has major importance in establishing pollen calendars, monitoring air quality, and diagnosing respiratory allergies or seasonal rhinitis.
• Agamophytes — A taxonomic or ecological group of plants characterized by reproduction carried out exclusively through spores or vegetative means, without the intervention of sexual organs or the process of gametic fertilization. Structurally, this category includes lower plant forms (such as certain algae, fungi, and lichens) in whose life cycles the agamic multiplication phase is absolutely dominant or unique.
• Androsporangium — A specialized asexual reproductive organ or cellular structure (found in certain green algae belonging to the Oedogoniales order) inside which androspores are produced and matured. Structurally, this organic capsule insulates the developing cellular material, ensuring the proper formation of male zoospores prior to their release.
• Anemosporous — A term defining plants, fungi, or their biological structures (such as spores) whose distribution, dispersion, and dissemination into the environment occur naturally via air currents. This adaptive ecological mechanism ensures the colonization of new territories, with the species relying on a massive production of extremely light and microscopic spores capable of floating over long distances.
• Anemospores — The collective term or variant designating spores that are disseminated and transported through the air by wind currents. These reproductive cells are microscopically adapted with a low specific gravity and dry outer membranes to float over considerable distances within the lower layers of the atmosphere.
• Anisosporous — Producing spores that are unequal in size, shape, or structure; characteristic of plant or fungal organisms that exhibit anisosporie. As a masculine noun, it denotes the asymmetric or volumetrically differentiated spore involved in the heterosporous reproductive cycles of certain algae, mosses, or fungi, existing as either a microspore or a macrospore.
• Anthrax — An acute and highly severe infectious disease, common to humans and animals, caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. The condition is transmitted through direct contact with infected animals or contaminated products and can manifest in cutaneous (malignant pustule), pulmonary, or gastrointestinal forms, carrying a high mortality rate without early antibiotic treatment.
• Asci — The plural form of the noun 'ascus'; microscopic reproductive cells specific to fungi of the class Ascomycetes, having the appearance of elongated sacs or tubes. Inside these cellular structures, following the process of meiosis followed by mitosis, ascospores (usually eight) are formed, ensuring the dissemination and perpetuation of the species in the environment.
• Ascocarp — The fruiting body characteristic of fungi belonging to the phylum Ascomycota, inside of which the asci containing ascospores are formed. This reproductive structure exhibits various forms (cleistothecium, perithecium, apothecium) and plays an essential role in the fungal life cycle, ensuring the protection and efficient dissemination of spores into the surrounding environment.
• Aspergillus molds — A plural vernacular or medical term designating microscopic fungi (molds) of the genus Aspergillus, structurally characterized by conidiophores with an apical vesicle bearing radiating sterigmata; these saprophytic fungi are ubiquitous in the environment and can cause severe opportunistic infections (aspergillosis) or pulmonary allergic reactions in immunocompromised organisms.
• Baciform — Having the shape of a berry; an anatomical, microscopic, or plant structure that is spherical or ovoid, closely resembling the external appearance of a berry fruit. The term is frequently used in mycology to describe the shapes of certain spores, in bacteriology for the arrangement of cellular colonies, or in histology for the granular configuration of some glands.