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Biological Environment > Fungi |
This site tells the story of the history of the universe. Click Earlier and Later to follow the story. Note: Many facts have been simplified to make them easier to understand. |
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As life developed, a large amount of dead material gathered at the bottom of lakes and oceans. Some eukaryotes evolved to feed on this dead matter. We call one of them a fungus, two or more are fungi ('fun-guy' or 'fun-jee').
The fungi evolved a special way of living together. A network of tubes ran through the rotting material. Within these tubes lived many cells of the fungi sharing a single membrane. Fungi are important in decomposing dead plants and animals. The parts of the fungus we sometimes see above ground (the mushrooms for example) are only the spore-forming parts of a much larger fungus. Most of it is inside the ground, wood or whatever the fungus is feeding on. Early fungi seem to have left no fossils, but we guess that they first appeared around 1 billion years ago. |
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Biological Environment > Fungi |
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