Earth’s Underground Fungi Networks Want Pressing Protection: Research

The underground fungi networks that assist maintain Earth’s ecosystems are in want of pressing conservation motion, based on researchers from the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN).

The scientists discovered that 90 p.c of mycorrhizal fungi biodiversity hotspots have been positioned in unprotected ecosystems, the lack of which might result in decrease carbon emissions discount charges, crop productiveness and cut back the resilience of ecosystems to local weather extremes.

Mycorrhizal fungi “cycle nutrients, store carbon, support plant health, and make soil. When we disrupt these critical ecosystem engineers, forest regeneration slows, crops fail and biodiversity above ground begins to unravel… 450m years ago, there were no plants on Earth and it was because of these mycorrhizal fungal networks that plants colonised the planet and began supporting human life,” stated Executive Director of SPUN Dr. Toby Kiers, as The Guardian reported. “If we have healthy fungal networks, then we will have greater agricultural productivity, bigger and beautiful flowers, and can protect plants against pathogens.”

Excited to get these knowledge into the arms of choice makers.

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— Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) (@spun.earth) July 25, 2025 at 4:21 AM

Using over 2.8 billion fungal sequences from 130 nations, the scientists have been capable of create high-resolution, predictive biodiversity maps of the planet’s underground mycorrhizal fungal communities.

“For centuries, we’ve mapped mountains, forests, and oceans. But these fungi have remained in the dark, despite the extraordinary ways they sustain life on land,” Kiers stated in a press launch from SPUN. “This is the first time we’re able to visualize these biodiversity patterns — and it’s clear we are failing to protect underground ecosystems.”

The analysis was the primary time a scientific software of SPUN’s 2021 world mapping initiative was executed on a big scale.

^{Map from SPUN’s Underground Atlas exhibits predicted arbuscular mycorrhizal biodiversity patterns throughout underground ecosystems. Bright colours point out increased richness and endemism. SPUN}

Mycorrhizal fungi assist regulate the world’s ecosystems and local weather by forming underground networks via which they supply important vitamins to crops and draw greater than 13 billion tons of carbon yearly into soils — roughly a 3rd of worldwide fossil gas emissions.

“Despite their key role as planetary circulatory systems for carbon and nutrients, mycorrhizal fungi have been overlooked in climate change strategies, conservation agendas, and restoration efforts,” the press launch stated. “This is problematic because disruption of networks accelerates climate change and biodiversity loss.”

Just 9.5 p.c of fungal biodiversity hotspots are discovered inside present protected areas.

“For too long, we’ve overlooked mycorrhizal fungi. These maps help alleviate our fungus blindness and can assist us as we rise to the urgent challenges of our times,” stated Dr. Merlin Sheldrake, influence director at SPUN.

SPUN is featured in @science.org in a chunk written by @humbertobasilio.bsky.social. Learn the place a number of the most original fungal communities exist, equivalent to West Africa’s Guinean forests, Tasmania’s temperate rainforests, and Brazil’s Cerrado savanna.

Read right here: www.science.org/content material/arti…

[image or embed]— Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) (@spun.earth) July 25, 2025 at 6:33 AM

SPUN was launched with the intention of mapping fungal communities to develop sources for decision-makers in coverage, regulation and local weather and conservation initiatives.

“Conservation groups, researchers, and policymakers can use the platform to identify biodiversity hotspots, prioritize interventions, and inform protected area designations. The tool enables decision-makers to search for underground ecosystems predicted to house unique, endemic fungal communities and explore opportunities to establish underground conservation corridors,” SPUN stated.

The findings of the study, “Global hotspots of mycorrhizal fungal richness are poorly protected,” have been revealed within the journal Nature.

“These maps are more than scientific tools — they can help guide the future of conservation,” stated lead writer of the research Dr. Michael Van Nuland, lead knowledge scientist at SPUN. “Food security, water cycles, and climate resilience all depend on safeguarding these underground ecosystems.”

Prominent advisors to the work embody conservationist Jane Goodall, authors Paul Hawken and Michael Pollan, and founding father of the Fungi Foundation Giuliana Furci.

“The idea is to ensure underground biodiversity becomes as fundamental to environmental decision-making as satellite imagery,” stated Jason Cremerius, SPUN’s chief technique officer.

The maps might be essential in leveraging fungi for the regeneration of degraded ecosystems.

“Restoration practices have been dangerously incomplete because the focus has historically been on life aboveground,” stated Dr. Alex Wegmann, a lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy. “These high-resolution maps provide quantitative targets for restoration managers to establish what diverse mycorrhizal communities could and should look like.”

The worldwide community of 96 “Underground Explorers” from almost 80 nations and greater than 400 scientists are at the moment sampling essentially the most distant and hard-to-access underground ecosystems on Earth, together with these in Bhutan, Mongolia, Ukraine and Pakistan.

While simply 0.001 p.c of the floor of our planet has been sampled, SPUN’s dataset already contains greater than 40,000 specimens representing 95,000 mycorrhizal fungal taxa.

“These maps reveal what we stand to lose if we fail to protect the underground,” Kiers stated.