Is Eywa a fungal organism?

[HeartOfGaia]

"The quote is one of Stamets' replies to a question posted underneath his TED talk video.
Do I think such a thing might be true? No. I kind of want to, it's a beautiful idea, but you know how the saying goes, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. And the evidence isn't quite extraordinary enough at the moment."

Biologically, one of the criteria for being a living thing is the ability to respond to stimuli or shifting abiotic factors in the environment. If a structure like a branch (which also becomes the mycelium's food) falls above the organism it will have some means of 'sensing' it.

It has been proven scientifically that fungi coevolved with plants and form a symbiosis which without, many plants could not live.

Through experimentation it has been shown that plants with fungal symbionts grow larger and faster. These plants are drought resistant as well as defended from dangerous pathogens.

Within a foot step, enough mycelium hyphae is coild up to form a length of eight miles when stretched out.

It has been shown that mycelium connect multiple trees belonging to different species and that when one tree is severely lacking in nutrients, the mycelium will reroute nutrients toward that particular tree.

Stamets has also shown that mycelium can purify water by acting as a filter, they produce chemicals which can destroy biological weapons, and they produce powerful antibacterial agents.

He has studied these organisms for 30 years. In his book- 'Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World' he explains the experiments he and others have done. He provides pictures, explaining his ideas. Stamets even gives a list of references at the end of this book. He is the foremost authority on fungi.