Edit: looking at all the elaborate replies, I cannot help being amazed. Here I thought the Fedi is overrepresented by computer geeks (such as yours truly) but obviously they've got NOTHING on the biologically inclined here! 🥰😍

If poisonous mushrooms are poisonous because it is advantageous for the survival of the specific species, are non poisonous mushroom relatively speaking weaker, less well equipped for the furthering of their species? I suppose that the ability to survive and further a species is multifaceted and that being poisonous or the lack thereof is just one of many parameters?

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[–] 2 points 1 week ago

Depends on many variables...

Mushroom in an env with no animals that eat it never had to evolve a mechanism for defense.

Poison shrooms may use that to deter foragers and foragers evolved to not eat them for survival.

Most traits have or had a purpose that may have helped a species survive and adapt. And there are some that seem to want to go extinct, looking at you pandas.

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