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Fungal Surges Found Around Dinosaur‑Era Extinction in North America

Evidence of separate pre‑impact, impact and early Paleocene blooms shows layered ecological stress that clouds understanding of recovery.

The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs may have struck a planet that was already in serious trouble — a new Johns Hopkins study has found evidence of a separate ecological crisis that began about 30,000 years before the impact, coincident with a high-volume pulse of volcanic eruptions in what is now India
When The Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Hit, This Life-Form Feasted On The Death
The end-Cretaceous mass extinction was marked by both the Chicxulub asteroid impact and the ongoing eruptions of the Deccan Traps volcanoes.

Overview

  • Researchers analyzed microfossils from Colorado and North Dakota and found a clear spike in fungal remains at the K–Pg boundary in Denver Basin samples, marking the first direct North American confirmation of a post‑impact fungal surge reported earlier in New Zealand.
  • The Colorado record shows three distinct proliferation intervals: an extended bloom about 30,000–10,000 years before the impact linked to Deccan Traps volcanism, a prominent post‑impact spike at the Chicxulub boundary, and a short roughly 2,000‑year early Paleocene pulse about 10,000 years after the impact.
  • Williston Basin samples from North Dakota did not show the immediate post‑impact spike seen in Colorado, and authors attribute that absence to differences in rock type and preservation rather than proving the event was absent regionally.
  • The team distinguished fungal spores and hyphae from pollen and plant microfossils and identified traits consistent with saprotrophic, stress‑adapted fungi, but they caution that taxonomic resolution and broader geographic sampling are still needed.
  • The findings fit earlier 'disaster microbiology' work and are consistent with—but do not prove—the idea that post‑extinction fungal blooms could have shaped recovery and given warm‑blooded mammals an ecological edge over reptiles.