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ChemsAndCutthroats t1_j5jvnkq wrote

Some bugs have also been found that were capable of eating plastic.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/14/bugs-across-globe-are-evolving-to-eat-plastic-study-finds

I imagine after humans there will be a period where you will see all sorts of flora and fauna that have evolved to live off the waste humans left behind.

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I_got_too_silly t1_j5kp1hw wrote

You know, this sort of reminds me of what happened when photosynthetic organisms first showed up on Earth. They triggered a mass extinction by filling up the atmosphere with their waste products (oxygen, which was toxic to most lifeforms at the time), until the creatures that survived maneged to evolve to live off of that waste.

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ChemsAndCutthroats t1_j5kse9z wrote

Yeah I was actually thinking about The Great Oxygenation extinction event as I typed it.

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DisplacedPersons12 t1_j5o1coo wrote

i believe it was a few million years after trees first evolved wooden cell structures that bacteria began breaking them down

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Asakari t1_j5q2hyd wrote

You won't find a lot of coal after the appearance of fungus

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