Evolution. Terrestrial life--fungal from the start?
Fungi have been implicated in the early colonization of land by plants. As Blackwell explains in her Perspective, Redecker et al.'s discovery of a fossil fungus provides strong support for this hypothesis. The important role of symbiotic associations of fungi with plants and animals is increasingly being recognized, as is the fact that some of these associations date back to the origin of terrestrial life on Earth.
Blackwell
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Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. btblac@unix1.sncc.lsu.edu
D005075:Biological Evolution; D005580:Fossils; D005658:Fungi / Q000502:physiology*; D010944:Plants / Q000382:microbiology