I was referring to the fact that lichens are an example of symbiosis, as distinguished from the concept associated with Darwin of the survival of the fittest without consideration of collaboration.
Yes, the pity that competition is the part of "how business is done" in the relationships between lifeforms that has become the model in our times, while cooperation takes a back seat.
The existence of lichens raises questions about Darwinian evolution and survival of the fittest. Somehow algae and fungi evolved into a state of cooperation.
David, you might say more about how you see lichens being non-Darwinian.
What I'm wondering is how far back did fungal mats host photosynthetic algae, likely long before the land-based mutualism we call lichens today. I'm guessing in the photic zone of Pre-Cambrian seas this could have come about, so that land colonization, when it became sufficiently compatible, might have had a leg up. Speculation is free! \{ ; > ))
I was referring to the fact that lichens are an example of symbiosis, as distinguished from the concept associated with Darwin of the survival of the fittest without consideration of collaboration.
Yes, the pity that competition is the part of "how business is done" in the relationships between lifeforms that has become the model in our times, while cooperation takes a back seat.
The existence of lichens raises questions about Darwinian evolution and survival of the fittest. Somehow algae and fungi evolved into a state of cooperation.
David, you might say more about how you see lichens being non-Darwinian.
What I'm wondering is how far back did fungal mats host photosynthetic algae, likely long before the land-based mutualism we call lichens today. I'm guessing in the photic zone of Pre-Cambrian seas this could have come about, so that land colonization, when it became sufficiently compatible, might have had a leg up. Speculation is free! \{ ; > ))
Oh boy! The naturalist is writing again.