When Giant Fungi Ruled

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to http://to.pbs.org/DonateEons ↓ More info below ↓ 420 million years ago, a giant feasted on the dead, growing slowly into the largest living thing on land. It belonged to an unlikely group of pioneers that ultimately made life on land possible -- the fungi. Produced for PBS Digital Studios. Thanks to Franz Anthony of 252mya.com and Jon Hughes of jfhdigital.com for their tremendous reconstructions of Prototaxites. Want to follow Eons elsewhere on the internet? Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/eonsshow Twitter - https://twitter.com/eonsshow Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/eonsshow/ References: http://www.davidmoore.org.uk/21st_Century_Guidebook_to_Fungi_PLATINUM/REPRINT_collection/Hueber_Prototaxites2001.pdf https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/070425-fungus-fossil_2.html http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/boj.12389/abstract http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/070423.fungus.shtml https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/devonian/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2880155/ https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-662-46011-5_10.pdf http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/devonian/devonian.php https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/the-world-s-largest-mining-operation-is-run-by-fungi/ http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/7/4/574 https://books.google.com/books?id=gSAufF5IUKoC&pg=PA233&lpg=PA233&dq=prototaxites+1843&source=bl&ots=G_xulZhwpL&sig=NfRL10g81UGZJ-SQxEV8iNCb88E&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpsYrenq3XAhWL6IMKHd5zBosQ6AEINDAC#v=onepage&q=prototaxites%201843&f=false https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21684921 https://academic.oup.com/botlinnean/article-lookup/doi/10.1111/boj.12389 https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/oldest-plant-fossil-found http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2818.1873.tb04672.x/abstract http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fungi/lichens/lichenfr.html http://science.sciencemag.org/content/293/5532/1129 http://www.newsweek.com/fossilized-fungi-worlds-oldest-land-fossil-432797 http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151205-one-amazing-substance-allowed-life-to-thrive-on-land http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1469-8137.2002.00397.x/abstract http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3852/13-390?journalCode=umyc20 https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/were-weirdo-ediacarans-really-lichens-fungi-and-slime-molds/ https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01884 http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9079000/9079963.stm https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/24/1/55/206443/new-evidence-for-land-plants-from-the-lower-middle?redirectedFrom=fulltext http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2001-news/Hedges8-2001.htm https://academic.oup.com/botlinnean/article/180/4/452/2416561 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/boj.12389/abstract https://qz.com/630770/a-scientist-identified-the-oldest-land-fossil-ever-and-realized-it-was-eating-something-even-older/ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034666713000948 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3427499.stm ~419mya http://horseshoecrab.org/research/sites/default/files/P.Shelden%201990.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC333434/ https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/30/5/391/192367/first-steps-on-land-arthropod-trackways-in?redirectedFrom=fulltext https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/geological-magazine/article/non-marine-arthropod-traces-from-the-subaerial-ordovician-borrowdale-volcanic-group-english-lake-district/A203763DC4AEA05D731966614AB2DE30 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20420932 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263080406_Rotted_wood-alga-fungus_The_history_and_life_of_Prototaxites_Dawson_1859 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/paleontological-society-special-publications/article/solution-to-the-enigma-of-prototaxites/F153A7007C25269D6C58734E8FF96F18 https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2396361.pdf https://www.academia.edu/891357/Early_terrestrial_animals_evolution_and_uncertainty https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/4094847.pdf