Spore

biology · plants · fungi · survival

Spores are survival capsules. Spores are super tiny packages that fungi, plants, and algae make to spread to new places and survive really tough times. They're like little life pods that can wait in harsh conditions until the weather gets better and it's time to grow.

They travel far and wide. Spores float through the air or ride on water to find new homes far away from where they started. A single mushroom can release millions of spores all at once, which is why you sometimes see a dusty cloud when you kick at a puffball fungus.

Sex and no-sex versions. Some spores are made from sexual reproduction (when two parents mix their stuff), while others are made asexually (from just one parent). Both types help organisms make copies of themselves and spread across the planet.

Ancient plant pioneers. Scientists think spores first appeared way back in the mid-to-late Ordovician period, around 450 million years ago, when early plants were just figuring out how to live on land.

Fungi's main move. Fungi depend totally on spores to make baby fungi, since they don't have seeds like flowering plants do. This is why mushrooms pop up after rain, releasing spores into the air to continue the cycle.