The Nutrient Cycle

Fungi and bacteria are nature's decomposers. They break down large molecules that the plants have built up out of smaller nutrients into smaller parts again that can be reused. The fungi and the bacteria don't know how to break down lignins, this novel molecule. And so the trees, all these woody plants, they fall over and they just kind of lie there. It hangs around for long enough without being decomposed that it eventually fossilises. That's coal. 60 million years later, some fungus figures out how to digest lignins and effectively shuts down the production of coal. Now something can eat wood. I heard about this and I googled lign

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