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
Watch Now
