Wisdom Builder
Takeaways
Topic:
Fungi
Timeless ideas at the intersections of science, philosophy, critical thinking, and history.
MODE:
~
6 minutes
Fungi.
10 random takeaways.
1.
From History: From 251.902 to 66.0 million years ago.
186 Million years: Dinosauria reigned from extinction to extinction.
The Mesozoic era starts with the end-Permian mass extinction 252 million years ago ending the reign of our synapsid ancestors. Within it, it includes the end-Triassic extinction 201 million years ago and the Toarcian environmental crisis 183 million years ago. The Mesozoic era ends the reign of dinosaurs with the K–Pg extinction 66 million years ago.
2.
From History: 66.04 million years ago to the present.
66 Million years: From extinction to society.
The Cenozoic Era begins with catastrophe, but its story is really one of opportunity. When the K–Pg extinction struck 66 million years ago, it ended the age of non-avian dinosaurs and shattered ecosystems across the planet. Yet from that loss, mammals diversified into forms large and small, birds spread into skies and habitats once shared with pterosaurs, and flowering plants and grasslands reshaped the land.
3.
From History: ~425 Million years ago (+/- 25 million)
Ascomycota and Basidiomycota Split
By 425 million years ago, fungi split into ascomycota and basidiomycota. Ascomycota gave rise to yeasts, truffles, and many molds. Basidiomycota gave rise mushrooms, puffballs, and bracket fungi.
4.
From History: ~1.9 Billion years ago (+/- 100 million)
Bacteria are added to eukaryote ancestor cells
By 2.4 billion years ago, bacteria are added to cells and within the archaea group and eukaryotes emerge. You are a walking ecosystem. A Chimera, a hybrid creature made of an Archaea host and trillions of Bacterial power-plants. Without that theft 2 billion years ago for the massive energy boost needed for muscle and brains, life would likely still be just a thin layer of slime on the ocean floor.
5.
From History: 3.73 Billion Years Ago (after LUCA)
Membrane and metabolic diversity.
“Prokaryote” is a structural description, not a single evolutionary branch. After LUCA, life divided into bacteria and archaea, and these prokaryotic lineages dominated Earth for billions of years before complex eukaryotic life emerged.
6.
From History: ~444 Million Years Ago
Cause: Global Cooling and Falling Seas
About 444 million years ago, global cooling locked water in ice, sea levels fell, and shallow marine habitats vanished. Most life still lived in the oceans, so the damage was enormous. Yet after the collapse, life reorganized. Evolution did not stop; it changed direction.
7.
From History: ~480 MYA (+/- 20 million)
Filamentous growth (hyphae); terrestrial colonization
The conquest of land wasn’t driven by size — it was driven by threads. By 480 million years ago, hyphae began breaking into rock to make land habitable.
8.
From History: ~600 Million years ago (+/- 20 million)
Sperm-like reproduction to spread seed to new soil.
By 600 million years ago, chytrids live in moist and watery environments. They are living fossils in the sense they reproduce with sperm-like cells that can swim to a new area. This lineage is the only fungi survivor of the original true posterior flagellum fungi-animal ancestors.
9.
From History: ~201 Million Years Ago
Cause: Massive Volcanic Eruptions
About 201 million years ago, massive volcanic eruptions disrupted climate and oceans as Pangea began to split. Many competitors vanished. Dinosaurs did not just survive the crisis; they inherited the world it left behind.
10.
From History: ~450 Million years ago (+/- 10 million)
Arbuscular mycorrhizae (Glomeromycota symbiosis)
By 450 million years ago, fungi and plants started a rich dirt alliance. Forests grew because fungi fed them. Plants exchanged sugars for fungi phosphors and minerals.
The End. Refresh for another set.