‘Without them there is no life’: the race to understand the mysterious world of Africa’s fungi Amid growing evidence of fungi’s key role in ecosystems and storing carbon, African scientists are championing the need to preserve ‘funga’ as much as flora and fauna

So proud to see Underground Explorers Anna Ralaiveloarisoa, Joyce Jefwa, and Nourou Yorou featured in this story by @whitneybauck.bsky.social in @theguardian.com about the scientists helping move fungal conservation forward across Africa.

🔗 buff.ly/mB4ei2O

Come join the underground crew at ARTIS Amsterdam for @tobykiers.bsky.social’s State of the Environment Address on how underground fungal networks shape climate & conservation.

Not in Amsterdam? Join us virtually.

Hosted by @tylerprize.bsky.social and SPUN.

🔗 buff.ly/y7bBeqe

#mycorrhizalfungi

Congratulations to @catiacanteiro.bsky.social and collaborators from @ucoimbra.bsky.social, @rbgkew.bsky.social , and @iucnfungi.bsky.social

For 56 of the 94 fungal species assessed in this study, there's still insufficient data to reliably evaluate extinction risk.

A reminder of how much fungal diversity remains understudied, and how urgently better knowledge is needed for conservation.

🔗 conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Which fungi can support trees like oak and birch as woodland expands?

In this video, David Satori, a PhD researcher at @rbgkew.bsky.social, shares how local mycorrhizal fungi may influence woodland creation at Wild Haweswater in Cumbria.

#mycorrhizalfungi #fungi

On Alaska’s North Slope, SPUN’s team recoded 253 ectomycorrhizal fungal species not previously documented, revealing an incredible biodiversity under the seemingly barren landscape.

Thank you @maxlevy.bsky.social & @quantamagazine.bsky.social

🔗 buff.ly/u5D9ciX

#mycorrhizalfungi #fungi #alaska

Can #fungi help expand rare temperate #rainforests?

📸: Seth Carnill

How do mycorrhizal fungal networks support the creation of woodlands?

Led by @bethanfmanley.bsky.social, we’re working with Cumbria Connect & @rspbengland.bsky.social to understand how mycorrhizal fungi may influence woodland restoration.

📸: Seth Carnill

#fungi #mycorrhizalfungi #restoration

📸: Andrés Pacheco at La Cueva

@inrae-france.bsky.social @fmartin54.bsky.social @tobykiers.bsky.social @adricorrales.bsky.social

Using dry ice and liquid nitrogen at −196° C, we preserved fungal RNA from the mountains of Corsica to Colombia's black oak forests.

This instantaneous picture helps us study how underground communities respond to heat, drought, and stress, supporting endangered species survival.

This @sciencenews.bsky.social piece, featuring Michael Van Nuland, explores how a warming climate and increasing drought reshape the composition and function of soil microbial communities and how these changes could disrupt ecosystems, plant health, and the global carbon cycle.

🔗 buff.ly/P9YCSsD

On #InternationalDayOfForests we're celebrating the Colombian black oak. An endangered and endemic tree species, found in Colombia's cloud forests. We're working with local collaborators to uncover the fungi living belowground supporting these trees so we can better advocate for their protection.

📸: Alessandra Monteiro de Paula

Underground Explorers are researchers studying mycorrhizal fungi in underexplored regions. Through field-based research, they collect samples, generate new data, and help close major knowledge gaps.

Applications close on March 22nd.

Full requirements: spun.earth/expeditions/...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi underpin terrestrial ecosystems, yet their global patterns remain unclear. Stewart et al. show >70% of ecoregions lack soil metabarcoding data—highlighting key sampling gaps. Read the 2025 FEMS Microbiology Letters Article Award winner 🏆https://buff.ly/Rw3Cbkt

Seemingly homogenous grasslands can harbour significantly different communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

UEP Alex Siggers’ research in the Great Plains grasslands of Kansas is pointing to the underground as a crucial part of the grassland protection story.

@thegsbi.bsky.social

Mapping underground fungal networks: Interview with SPUN’s Toby Kiers All around her, scientists had their eyes set on studying flora and fauna that lived aboveground. But Toby Kiers’s interest always lay in the oft-overlooked biodiversity that existed beneath it. It…

Beneath our feet, mycorrhizal fungi trade nutrients for carbon with plant roots — forming one of Earth’s largest carbon networks.

Now SPUN is using remote sensing and imaging robots to map this hidden underground system.

Thank you for sharing 🍄‍🟫

Exploring “A travelling-wave strategy for plant–fungal trade” YouTube video by SPUN

Learn more about our lab work: youtu.be/tOUhu2tXIWg?...

Huge thanks to scientists Rachael Cargill and Loreto Oyarte Gálvez for capturing the lab material, VU Amsterdam, AMOLF, Tom Shimizu (‪@thomasshimizu.bsky.social)‬ and Underground Explorer Udaya Kannaian’s team in the field.

Mycorrhizal fungi have shaped life on Earth for ~450 million years, forming crucial partnerships with nearly 80% of plant species.

With partners like AMOLF, we’re developing the tools to observe this relationship, combining robotics, mycology, and biophysics to reveal underground dynamics.

Are you a mycorrhizal fungal researcher?
Apply now to be a 2026 Underground Explorer.

🖋️Grant amount: Up to $10,000 USD
🗓️Deadline: 22 March, 2026 at 23:59 UTC-10:00 (Hawaii)
🔗Link to apply: www.spun.earth/expeditions/...

New paper out!
Lead by @camilletruong.bsky.social & with @spun.earth #FungiFoundation in Biod Conserv:

“Large-diameter trees disproportionately contribute to soil fungal diversity in a coniferous forest with one of oldest living trees on Earth”.

@tobykiers.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1007/s105...

Large-diameter trees disproportionately contribute to soil fungal diversity in a coniferous forest with one of oldest living trees on Earth - Biodiversity and Conservation Soil fungi play major roles in ecosystem functioning and plant resilience to environmental stresses. However, they are often overlooked in ecosystem restoration plans. In the Coastal Range of southern...

So many trees and so many fungi to study!
Next one on Australian conifers?

We found more #fungi in the rhizosphere of large trees, with many unique taxa beneath the millennial Alerce Abuelo, the Grandfather

@spun.earth
@esaplantsoilecol.bsky.social
@ausmycsoc.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1007/s105...

@camilletruong.bsky.social , @adricorrales.bsky.social, @bethanfmanley.bsky.social, Michael E. Van Nuland, @thecrobe.bsky.social , Rocío Urrutia-Jalabert, Roberto Godoy, Merlin Sheldrake, Giuliana Furci, @tobykiers.bsky.social & @cmarin.bsky.social
📸: Tomás Munita

How an underground fungal map of one of the world’s oldest, slowest-growing rainforest trees can boost the resilience of Earth’s long-term carbon sinks?

New paper in Biodiversity and Conservation about our first expedition to the Chilean Coast Range: buff.ly/CumRGpU

More than 70% of global ecoregions lack soil data on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, key partners to most land plants.

Congratulations to @thecrobe.bsky.social & team on winning the 2025 Best Article Award in @femsjournals.bsky.social.

Read the paper highlighting those data gaps:
buff.ly/7RP6q29

Read the paper: buff.ly/7fzJjYz

Underground Explorer Udaya Kannaian and team mapped the fungal diversity of high-altitude soils across 6 distinct regions near Sathyamangalam. In just 6 samples, 7495 fungal species were observed. Many of these fungi are dark taxa, meaning they haven't been identified before.

Huge congrats to @mvanderheijden.bsky.social and co-authors.

New study in @nature.com finds pesticides in 70% of soils sampled across Europe, showing they suppress beneficial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Authors call for assessing pesticide impacts on entire soil communities to better protect soil biodiversity.

Link to paper: buff.ly/wJzWiYB