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Fungi: Earth’s First Ecosystem Engineers, Study Reveals

10/2/2025

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Summary

Story summary

New research from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) finds fungi diversified 1.4–0.9 billion years ago, predating land plants.
This challenges the view that plants were the first terrestrial pioneers and underscores fungi's early ecological role.
The study used molecular clocks and horizontal gene transfer to establish the fungal timeline; fungi may have been Earth's first ecosystem engineers.

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Story summary

New research from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) finds fungi diversified 1.4–0.9 billion years ago, predating land plants.
This challenges the view that plants were the first terrestrial pioneers and underscores fungi's early ecological role.
The study used molecular clocks and horizontal gene transfer to establish the fungal timeline; fungi may have been Earth's first ecosystem engineers.