.635 billion years ago, the temperature of the earth rose. For 90 million years before that, the earth had been frozen, with the continent's surface empty and deserted without any animals or plants. But beneath the surface, tiny fungi are trying to transform the earth into a place suitable for more living organisms.
In early 2021, Chinese scientists published a report on the discovery of early fungal fossils, revealing that fungi play a crucial role in the evolution of life. This is the earliest terrestrial fungal fossil found in the world so far, 130 million years earlier than the oldest terrestrial animal that appeared 500 to 450 million years ago.
Scientists recently discovered that fungi play a key role in the transformation of Earth from a frozen planet to a vibrant and diverse planet. Under the action of rock fungi, it is broken and decomposed, and eventually becomes a soil suitable for vegetation growth.
Since then, fungi have spread all over the world. They can provide the "Internet" for plants, manipulate the behavior of ant , and decompose plastic garbage .
However, they can also cause epidemics that endanger human life.
(excerpted from the popular science magazine "Singularity Science" 2023 magazine subscription https://www.zazhipu.com/)
Establish a huge network of fungi
Today, there are about 1.5 million fungi in the world, but only about 7% of them are known. This is mainly because many fungi are single-celled organisms like yeast , which cannot be directly observed by the naked eye.
fungi do not perform photosynthesis like plants, nor do they digest food through the gastrointestinal system like animals, but they can secrete a powerful enzyme to break down surrounding substances. Although genetics studies show that fungi have a closer relationship with animals than plants, fungi are an independent biological group.
The well-known mushrooms account for only a small part of the total fungal biomass, and many fungi cannot grow mushrooms. Fungi rely on slender mycelium to absorb nutrients from the soil. The aggregate of mycelium is called mycelium, which is similar to the root system of plants and is the main structure of fungi. Some myceliums are amazingly large. In Oregon, the United States, people have discovered the world's largest organism, , . Its mycelium covers an area of 9.65 square kilometers, equivalent to 1,350 football fields. The mycelium of
fungi can help plants communicate with each other from a distance, so it is also called the "Internet of Nature". If the plant is attacked by pests, it can use the underground network to remind neighboring plants to strengthen defenses, such as increasing bitter substances in leaves.
In nature, about 90% of plants symbiotic with mycorrhizal fungi. The underground mycelium mesh not only protects the plant roots from bacterial infections, but also helps the plants absorb nutrients and moisture. In return, plants provide fungi with carbohydrate through photosynthesis.
Some plants are very dependent on mycorrhizal fungi, and they cannot grow without fungi. Existing evidence shows that mycorrhizal fungi helped early terrestrial plants take root as early as 500 million to 450 million years ago.
