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| future fungus evolution | |
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| Topic Started: Nov 14 2010, 06:38 PM (623 Views) | |
| Dark-Matter | Nov 14 2010, 06:38 PM Post #1 |
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Adult
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Does anyone has an idea of what the fungus will evolve to in the future.
Edited by Dark-Matter, Nov 14 2010, 06:43 PM.
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| MitchBeard | Nov 14 2010, 07:04 PM Post #2 |
proud gondwanan
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As far as fungi go, they've pretty much got being sessile heterotroph as far down as it's ever going to get. Any evolutionary revolutions are going to be one of two things: Reproductive or symbiotic. Or a mixture of both, like the evolution of the flower. Rusts (urediniomycetes, not oxidised iron) adapting to become an animal pathogen could be a possibility. Mycorrhizal are in a pretty good place to do some potentially weird and wonderful things with their partnership with plants. Hopefully cooler than those albino flowers whose name escapes me though. |
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| Dark-Matter | Nov 14 2010, 07:13 PM Post #3 |
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Adult
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Do you think they could evolve to walk like animals |
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| MitchBeard | Nov 14 2010, 11:33 PM Post #4 |
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proud gondwanan
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No. There is the slightest chance that it kinda might happen maybe given somewhere over half a billion years time to evolve. If you're lucky. Plants have a better chance at evolving motility than fungus do. Mushrooms are only the fruiting body. The actual fungus of a fungus are a web or net of millions of threadlike hyphae with grow through the soil to collect nourishment. They're pretty much the roots of a plant on its own on steroids. There is a small group of fungus which capture nematodes with what is essentially something between an inner tube and a bear trap, but that's the only case where any fungus moves of its own volition. |
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| colddigger | Nov 15 2010, 12:52 AM Post #5 |
Joke's over! Love, Parasky
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Are you thinking of Indian Pipes? |
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Oh Fine. Oh hi you! Why don't you go check out the finery that is SGP?? v Don't click v Spoiler: click to toggle | |
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| MitchBeard | Nov 15 2010, 04:26 AM Post #6 |
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proud gondwanan
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Thats the ones! ...actually, I think they parasitize onto tree roots... Oh well, I think I might have been talking out of my arse without realising... |
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| Holben | Nov 15 2010, 02:26 PM Post #7 |
Rumbo a la Victoria
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The Future Fungus from Primeval was cool, and there are fungi which parasitise the nervous systems of arthropods and replace their tissue slowly with fungus tissue. If they became able to differentiate into nervous and non-nervous cells, there could be a primitive intelligence that could actively hunt for new hosts. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| Rick Raptor | Nov 15 2010, 03:45 PM Post #8 |
Adolescent
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While I actually like the Fungus creature of Primeval (interesting break from the usual terrifying creatures) I think it´s too improbable to work in real life even hundreds of million years in the future. I doubt a fungus will ever achieve eyes, a mouth and the capability of walking around. An infected host controlled by a parasitic fungus can do that, but not something entirely fungal (as the scene where the Fungus creature explodes shows there were no traces of the human beneath). |
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| Spugpow | Nov 15 2010, 07:48 PM Post #9 |
Prime Specimen
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Lichens might develop tree and bush forms... Perhaps some fungi could become mobile. Earthstars are a kind of fungal fruiting body that use the kinetic energy of falling water to pump out jets of spores. Maybe they could use this energy to power hopping legs, or at least just bounce around. As for whether fungi could develop into animals, I doubt it. Maybe, on an alien planet, there are creatures that run on kinetic energy. Perhaps something similar to Theo Jansen's creations: http://www.strandbeest.com/ Edited by Spugpow, Nov 15 2010, 07:49 PM.
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| My deviantart page: http://amnioticoef.deviantart.com/ | |
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| MitchBeard | Nov 15 2010, 11:12 PM Post #10 |
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proud gondwanan
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I can actually see what Holben suggested working quite well. It wouldn't even need to differentiate into nervous/non nervous cells as a fungal network would be able to work sufficiently well as a nervous system as it is, all that needs to develop is the biochemistry and for it to become more readily interconnected. As for spugow...  I really don't see how that could possibly ever develop into hopping legs, I don't really see why it would ever really be an advantage. Yeah, those kinetic sculptures are pretty cool. Somehow I think there would be some pretty intense selection against them say, if there was any organisms in their environment which could move of their own volition... |
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