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Message: <blockquote data-quote="s/LaSH" data-source="post: 1318554" data-attributes="member: 6929">The big problem with fungi is, as stated, biomass. You can't expect to have a couple of pads of fungus in a cavern and have that support an entire ecosystem. What you need is a more surface-style ecology. That is to say, most of the caverns are choked with fungi, and rock is rarely seen.In this way, biomass is at a high level; fungus can reclaim dead bodies, be eaten by fungivores (fungi aren't plants), and then by carnivores and monsters. There would be very little left to rot in the caves. Note that fungi are pretty high in protein and chitin.Because it's not a plant and has no woody fiber, fungus seems incapable of reaching the heights of the tallest trees (I'm not sure how far the chitin in its structure goes to support mass). However, it can easily climb above your head, and if species dealing with calcium (bones) have evolved, they might attain a metallic kind of trunk structure. Many regions, the fungus would probably just cover the ground like grass in between clumps of really big fungi; grass is flexible, fungus isn't, so walking over it will leave a heck of a trail.Atmosphere is a concern. There will be virtually no weather systems in the Underdark, simply because of all the winding tunnels and lack of sunlight to baffle and deprive the system of energy. If a region has no oxygenating fungi in it, the air will stagnate and quickly become unbreathable. Diffusion from neighbouring areas will not be enough, because the air is so cool and still. It could take centuries to reoxygenate if there's no life there. There are a couple of solutions to this. Volcanoes in the lower regions heat air; if they operate on a tidal cycle, something vaguely similar to katabatic air currents might spring up as they 'pulse' hot air up once a day, creating an expansion pulse that could affect caves for miles around. The compression pulse as the air cools would likely be less violent. If the volcanoes were close and in series, they might create a sort of stuttering global/tidal shift of atmosphere that sets up an even better circulatory system. Another idea is massive, massive organisms living within the crust of the planet, probably older than land-based life, growing to miles in size and occasionally breathing. The 'blast zone' around their gills/air pores would be untenable for all but the hardiest lichen, but a couple of corridors away the fungi would be going, 'ah, a breeze of CO2, how nice'.I think I think too much...</blockquote>

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