Life on Earth may not have happened without this creature

Few doubts, this creature plays a surprising role in the formation of our planetary atmosphere.

Without plants, our Earth could hardly have this easy breathing atmosphere.

But it turned out that plants did not come alone but with the help of the most exotic form of life on our planet: the fungus.

Mushrooms are an important bridge between plants and soil.

According to new research by scientists at Leeds University, mushrooms are an important bridge between plants and soil.

Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago almost without the atmosphere. Then when the Earth cooled, the atmosphere began to form from hydrogen sulfide, methane and carbon dioxide - a very toxic environment for humans.

Later, the planet became cold enough to allow the presence of water, along with the emergence of cyanobacteria to begin the process of converting the atmosphere into a layer around the oxygen-rich Earth. .

But it was not until the evolution of terrestrial plants, the new atmosphere became rich enough to promote the life of animals on Earth about 400-500 million years ago.

Symbiotic relationship between mushrooms and plants.

However, the first plants were not evolved enough to be able to work on their own.

They have not yet developed roots or plastic vascular systems like today's plants. Instead, as well as the symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi today, soil fungi transfer phosphorus from the rock to the plant, thereby promoting photosynthesis for the plant.

Photosynthesis of green plants provides oxygen to the Earth's atmosphere.

'Photosynthesis by land plants is responsible for providing about half of the oxygen on Earth. "It needs phosphorus, but we still don't understand how this nutrient supply for plants works," says Benjamin Mills, a biology modeling researcher in the research team.

He added: 'The results show that fungal interaction data provides an important step forward for us to understand the early development of the Earth. Our work shows the importance of fungi in creating an oxygen-containing atmosphere. "

In addition, the team also experimented on ancient mushrooms. Thereby, they determined that some fungi lead to different levels of phosphorus-carbon metabolism, leading to an effect on plant oxygen production.

Mushrooms have existed for a long time, possibly before plants and between them formed a symbiotic relationship from the beginning.

After this study, we will spend a certain respect for mushrooms in the development of plants on Earth.