Fungi and their role on Earth

 Fungi are actually one of the main things that create the Earth. They have been there since the beginning, as one of the first organisms to ever live on land. There have been discoveries, that they probably existed before trees did. Scientists have found a fossil of a fungi called Prototaxites. They were around more than 300 million years ago and could grow up to 8 meters high and about 1 metre wide. Most people were sceptical about the theory that they’re not trees or other organisms, but it has been proven they’re closest to mushrooms. Apart from that, fungi play a big role in forest life, not only through communicating with other plants(their mycelium networks), but also in decomposing organic matter. They also help in cleaning the oceans, by taking care of various marine organisms, which are already dead, or transporting nutrients and oxygen through the water.

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  1. It makes sense that fungi should be evolutionarily older than trees - they are less complex in some respects.

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