How fungi made Earth’s atmosphere livable 

It turns out mushrooms aren’t just great to eat – they played an essential role in creating an atmosphere suitable for animal life, according to a new study. The earliest plants to dwell on land did not have well developed roots or vascular systems. Fungi, among the earliest colonizers of land, helped facilitate the transfer of phosphorus from rocky soil to primitive plants, which required the mineral to photosynthesize. “The results of including data on fungal interactions present a significant advance in our understanding of Earth’s early development,” said Benjamin Mills, co-author of a report on the research published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. “Our work clearly shows the importance of fungi in the creation of an oxygenated atmosphere.”

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