Systematics and Evolution, Part A The Mycota

of key phenotypes, such as lichenization
(Lutzoni and Pagel 1997 ), mycorrhizal associa-
tion (Hibbett et al. 2000 ), parasitism (Vogler and
Bruns 1998 ), and wood decay (Eastwood et al.
2011 ). Almost as soon, attempts to fit the new
phylogenetic trees to the geologic time scale
were made, making it possible to match

evolutionary events in fungi with those in plants

and animals, albeit not without controversy

(Berbee and Taylor 1993 , 2010 ;Casadevall

2005 ; Heckman et al. 2001 ; Simon et al. 1993 ).

As with attempts to fit molecular phylogenies to

geological time scales, attempts to fit pheno-

types to phylogenies can be controversial, and

Fig. 1.1Fungi and funguslike organisms covered in Mycota span the eukaryotic diversity diagrammed
in this tree, which is based on the Tree of Life Web project ( 2012 ) and on references cited in the text

2 J.W. Taylor and M.L. Berbee