John Miller
Mushrooms and bryophytes are both ancient life forms that have existed on Earth for millions of years. Bryophytes are small, non-vascular plants that reproduce through spores and include liverworts, mosses, and hornworts. On the other hand, mushrooms are fungi with stems, caps, and gills, and they produce spores under the cap. While the oldest mushroom fossils date back to the mid-Cretaceous, about 90 million years ago, bryophytes have an even longer history. Evidence suggests that bryophytes, as early land plants, may have evolved from freshwater green algae and first appeared around 450 million years ago. This evolutionary history indicates that bryophytes are indeed older than mushrooms.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Bryophytes | Small, non-vascular plants that reproduce by means of spores instead of seeds |
| Bryophytes first appeared | 450 million years ago |
| Mushrooms first appeared | 5 million years ago |
| Oldest mushroom fossil | 90 million years old |
| Oldest lichen fossil | 400 million years old |
| Oldest fungal fossils | 416-359.2 million years old |
| Oldest vascular plant fossils | 425 million years old |
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What You'll Learn
Bryophytes are small, non-vascular plants that reproduce using spores
Bryophytes are a group of small, non-vascular land plants that reproduce using spores. They include mosses, hornworts, and liverworts, and are believed to be the closest remaining link between land and aquatic plants. They are characteristically limited in size and prefer moist habitats, although some species can survive in drier environments. They are widely distributed throughout the world and can be found in a range of temperatures, elevations, and moisture levels. For example, they can be found in cold arctics, hot deserts, sea level, alpine regions, and both very dry and very wet ecosystems.
Bryophytes are distinct from other plants in that they lack vascular tissue, which means they cannot take water from the soil and transport it to higher tissue. Instead, they depend on water for reproduction and survival, and have special adaptations to protect their tissues from drying out, such as a waxy cuticle covering the soft tissue of the plant. They also have organs that are specialized for the transport of water and other specific functions, but this tissue does not contain lignin, an essential protein found in true vascular tissue.
Bryophytes reproduce sexually by spores and asexually by fragmentation or the production of gemmae. In their life cycle, a haploid gametophyte alternates with a diploid sporophyte. The gametophyte produces haploid spores that grow into sporophytes, and the sporophyte releases spores from which gametophytes develop. The sporophyte is usually very small and dependent on the gametophyte for support and nutrients. Fertilization occurs when gametophytes are covered with a thin layer of water, allowing the sperm to travel to a neighboring gametophyte.
The discovery of a fossilized fungus in the Canadian Arctic, named Ourasphaira giraldae, suggests that fungi may have grown on land a billion years ago, well before plants were living on land. However, the oldest evidence of bryophytes found so far can be dated back to almost 500 million years ago, with spore-like structures of a liverwort found in Argentinian rock dated to 473-471 million years old.
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Liverworts, mosses, and hornworts are all bryophytes
Liverworts, mosses, and hornworts spend most of their lives as haploid gametophytes, with diploid sporophytes appearing only occasionally. The sporophytes are always unbranched and produce a single spore-producing capsule (sporangium). The gametophytes can give rise to several sporophytes at once. Liverworts, mosses, and hornworts produce gamete-producing organs (archegonia and antheridia) on the gametophytes, sometimes at the tips of shoots, in the axils of leaves, or hidden under thalli.
The three types of bryophytes differ in their physical characteristics and growth patterns. Liverworts and hornworts are similar in the gametophyte stage, with wrinkled or lobed sheets that creep over the substrate. Hornworts are generally blue-green and are named after their distinctive long, thin, needle-like sporangia, which resemble horns. Mosses, on the other hand, are often described as soft and fluffy due to the appearance of their leaves and stems. The leaves of mosses are spirally arranged along the stem, with a vein running through each leaf.
Bryophytes play an important role in ecosystems, contributing to soil formation, maintaining soil moisture, and recycling nutrients. They have also proven beneficial to humans, with some species being used for water purification, gardening, energy production, and even in the creation of Scotch whisky's characteristic smoky flavour.
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Mushrooms are a type of fungus with stems, caps, and gills
The cap of a mushroom is the rounded, often umbrella-shaped top of the fruiting body. It is supported by a stem, which is typically cylindrical and can vary in length and thickness. The underside of the cap is lined with gills, which are thin, ribbed structures that radiate out from the stem. These gills contain the spores of the mushroom, which are dispersed when the cap is disturbed or when the mushroom is mature. Some species of mushrooms have pores instead of gills, with spores released through the pores rather than the gills.
The mycelium is the part of the fungus that grows underground or within the substrate where the mushroom is growing. It is a network of thin, branching filaments called hyphae. Mushrooms can be classified as either saprotrophic or mycorrhizal. Saprotrophic mushrooms obtain their nutrients from dead or decaying organic matter, while mycorrhizal mushrooms have a symbiotic relationship with plant roots, helping with water and nutrient absorption in exchange for carbohydrates.
Fungi, including mushrooms, are ancient organisms that diverged from other life forms around 1.5 billion years ago. Fossilized fungi provide evidence of their existence as early as a billion years ago, well before plants colonized the land. While the specific timeline of mushroom evolution is still being uncovered, they are known to be much older than bryophytes, which are non-vascular, moss-like plants that date back to at least 460 million years ago.
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The earliest fungi may have lived in water and had flagella
Mushrooms are a type of fungus, and there is evidence that fungi are older than bryophytes. In May 2019, scientists reported the discovery of a fossilized fungus, named Ourasphaira giraldae, in the Canadian Arctic, that may have grown on land a billion years ago, well before plants were living on land. Fossilized hyphae and spores recovered from the Ordovician of Wisconsin (460 Ma) existed at a time when the land flora likely consisted of only non-vascular bryophyte-like plants. However, these have been dismissed as contamination.
Fungi diverged from other life forms around 1.5 billion years ago, and DNA analysis suggests that all fungi are descended from a common ancestor that lived at least 1.2 to 1.5 billion years ago. It is probable that these earliest fungi lived in water and had flagella. A 2.4-billion-year-old basalt from the Palaeoproterozoic Ongeluk Formation in South Africa contains filamentous fossils that may push back the origin of the Kingdom by over one billion years.
The earliest terrestrial fungus fossils, or at least fungus-like fossils, have been found in South China and date back around 635 million years. These early fungi may have contributed to oxygenating the Earth's atmosphere after the Cryogenian glaciations. About 400 million years ago, during the Devonian, terrestrial fungus fossils become uncontroversial and common.
Fungi have a worldwide distribution and grow in a wide range of habitats, including deep sea sediments and other aquatic environments. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that the flagellum was lost early in the evolutionary history of fungi, and consequently, most fungal species lack a flagellum today.
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Bryophytes are estimated to be 450 million years old
The first bryophytes, which were liverworts, are estimated to have appeared about 450 million years ago during the Ordovician period. Bryophytes are non-vascular plants that are commonly divided into three phyla: liverworts (Hepaticophyta), hornworts (Anthocerotophyta), and mosses (true Bryophyta). They are the closest living relative of early terrestrial plants.
Bryophytes thrive in damp habitats, although some species can survive in deserts and hostile environments such as the tundra. They lack lignin and tracheids, which are xylem cells specialized for water conduction. Instead, water and nutrients circulate inside specialized conducting cells. The embryo of a bryophyte remains attached to the parent plant, which protects and nourishes it.
In comparison, the earliest fungi are estimated to have evolved around 1.5 billion years ago, with the earliest fossils being discovered in the Canadian Arctic and dated to a billion years ago. Fungi probably colonized the land during the Cambrian, over 500 million years ago, and possibly even earlier during the Ediacaran.
The oldest mushroom-forming fungi, the extinct species Archaeomarasmius legletti, appeared during the mid-Cretaceous, 90 million years ago. Thus, it can be concluded that mushrooms are older than bryophytes, with a significantly longer evolutionary history.
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Frequently asked questions
No. Mushrooms are a type of fungus and are younger than bryophytes. Bryophytes are small, non-vascular plants that reproduce by means of spores instead of seeds. The oldest bryophytes are estimated to be 450 million years old, while the earliest known mushroom-forming fungi are thought to have appeared 90 million years ago.
Bryophytes are small, spore-producing plants that belong to the division Bryophyta of the plant kingdom. They include liverworts, mosses, and hornworts, and are sometimes considered the earliest land plants.
Mushrooms are the visible reproductive structures of certain fungi species. They grow above the ground, often on decaying organic matter in the soil. They have a stem, cap, and gills under the cap where spores are produced.
Early vascular plants had two key adaptations that allowed them to thrive on land: efficient vascular tissues for transporting sugars, nutrients, and water, and the ability to synthesize lignin to strengthen their cell walls. These traits allowed them to grow larger than their bryophyte ancestors and reduce their dependence on moist habitats.
