Hypothetical types of biochemistry in the late 1960s, these machines are often classed as computers (or computer-guided robots) and filed under "silicon-based life", even though the silicon backing matrix of these processors is not nearly as fundamental to their operation as carbon is for "wet life". Arsenic, which is chemically similar to phosphorus, while poisonous for most life forms on Earth, is incorporated into the biochemistry of some organisms. Some marine algae incorporate arsenic into complex organic molecules such as arsenosugars and arsenobetaines. Fungi and bacteria can produce volatile methylated arsenic compounds. Arsenate reduction and arsenite oxidation have been observed in microbes ("Chrysiogenes arsenatis").
Clavarioid fungi on wood or on decaying herbaceous stems and fallen leaves. Some species, particularly in the genera "Clavulina" and "Ramaria", are known to be ectomycorrhizal (forming a beneficial association with the roots of living trees). Species in the genera "Ertzia", "Multiclavula", "Lepidostroma", and "Sulzbacheromyces" are lichenized and grow in association with algae. Clavarioid fungi have a worldwide distribution, though some genera—such as "Aphelaria" and "Lachnocladium"—are principally tropical. They are one of the most common of the four fungi groupings. Clavarioid fungi The clavarioid fungi are a group of fungi in the "Basidiomycota" typically having erect, simple or branched basidiocarps (fruit bodies)