Self-integration – an emerging concept from the fungal mycelium

摘要

For so long neglected in the development and promulgation of evolu-tionary theory, there are increasing signs that mycelia] fungi can bring new insights into the origins of phenotypic diversity and change. They challenge some of our most fundamental assumptions about natural selection and its significance relative to other processes in determining the direction of evolutionary pathways. This is because of the way myce-lia are physically organized as versatile systems of interconnected tubes that can span heterogeneous environments in which energy is often in very variable supply (Rayner 1994; Rayner, Griffith & Ainsworth, 1995a).