The living conditions and methods of feeding the mushrooms are varied.

The variety of substrates colonized by fungi, the different conditions and sometimes unexpected circumstances in which they occur, show that these organisms adapt to a very diverse source of nutrients, both in their composition and in the relative concentration of the main elements supplied to the fungi. In terms of its physiology, as well as morphology and organization, this is an infinitely complex and ecologically very plastic world.
Water is needed for germination and then for the development of fungi. Like plants, they feed on dissolved nutrients by osmosis through the walls of the hyphae. Most types of fungi are found only in conditions of relatively high environmental humidity. A number of crop pests are spread by water.