I've been reading & watching a lot of things relating to this post since part 1 of "Trees & Fungi: The marvellous relationship" on the 30th September last year. We looked at fungal decay, nutrient & water exchange, tree health & structure, & finally soil deuteriation. These were of course not as in depth as I would like or what I am capable of, but is nevertheless fundamental parts of the relationship - & important for my education of mycology. Anyway, I thought it should be time to add part 2.
So, today I thought I would focus on just one more aspect, that being how fungi brought trees onto land. In ecological succession, the earliest colonizers of land were microbes, then lichens & mosses, then herbaceous plants, then woody plants known as shrubs & trees. We are looking at a time difference of 480 million years when lichens first evolved onto land, to trees some 390 million years ago during the carboniferous period.
Bacteria, Fungi, & Algae were the primary organisms to form communities. Fungi behaved as the root system for Algae, in fact these plants did not evolve roots for another 50 million years. Once vascular tissue evolved could roots follow & trees first appear. Once algae appeared from terrestrial fungi some 450 million years ago; otherwise known as ocean plants. The first trees (with woody stems) evolved some 360 million years ago - the beginning of the Carboniferous period) had leaves & roots. They emerged from the oceans having developed genes from bacteria in the form of plants around 410 million years, more specifically green algae growing on damp rock and wood exposed to the elements. All algae contain chlorophyll (a green pigment which allows a plants to absorb energy through photosynthesis), however green algae contains two, the former as well as chlorophyll b, which allows it to consume more efficiently. This is the only type of algae to store carbohydrates as starch, but not as a lipid, being better for long term energy without the drying out the individual cells.
More to follow...
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