Interesting. Their alternative hypothesis from the abstract:

> Rather than a consequence of a temporal decoupling of evolutionary innovations between fungi and plants, Paleozoic coal abundance was likely the result of a unique combination of everwet tropical conditions and extensive depositional systems during the assembly of Pangea.

Interesting. I guess that aligns well with how quickly we’ve seen bacteria evolve to digest plastics.

I had no idea! Is this definitive, or just another supposition?

"The occurrence of these substantial coal deposits 200 million years after the undisputed evolution of wood-rotting fungi sharply conflicts with the evolutionary lag model" seems pretty clear, as does the evidence of fungal decay in deposited coal.

net zero information

No; "Devonian-to-Permian woods infiltrated with fungi and possessing damage consistent with white rot decay or other forms of fungal degradation of lignified tissue" means the original theory simply doesn't work.