The Meek will Inherit the Earth

A few facts about fungi, from an article by Dr. Gregory M. Mueller, Ph.D., Vice President of Science at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Fungi play important roles in a variety of ecosystems. In forests, fungi make up approximately 90 percent of the living things in soil (by mass), and 50 percent on most agricultural land. They even thrive in water systems, breaking down dead plant and animal material to make the litter at the bottom of streams tastier for insects, spiders and crustaceans.
Fungi can be BIG and OLD: Honey mushrooms are among the largest living organisms on Earth. One single specimen in an Oregon forest covers 3.4 square miles, and scientists estimate it to be somewhere around 2,400 years old. If you visit the site in the fall, you would see clumps of honey mushrooms scattered around the forest - but the majority of this spectacular fungus grows in the soil. The mushrooms you see are, in a sense, the fungal equivalent to apples on a tree.

See the original article here.