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Reposted by Toby Kiers

Cátia Canteiro @catiacanteiro.bsky.social · 1d

So excited to be representing @spun.earth at the #IUCNCongress! 🌍✨ I’m eager to connect with you and explore how we can integrate mycorrhizal fungi into your conservation strategies. Schedule a time to meet up: www.spun.earth/events/iucn-...

Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) @spun.earth · 1d

🚨SPUN’S Biodiversity Conservation Strategist, @catiacanteiro.bsky.social will be at the #IUCNcongress presenting our latest mycorrhizal maps to conservation leaders.

Schedule a meeting with Cátia: buff.ly/dy2amO3

Visit SPUN’s event page: buff.ly/aQ7L97Y

SPUN at IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025

www.spun.earth

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Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · Aug 14

Mycorrhizal allies: synergizing forest carbon and multifunctional restoration

@cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social by Tengteng Li (李腾腾), Richard Phillips, @mrillig.bsky.social, @gangst.bsky.social, @tobykiers.bsky.social, Paola Bonfante, Nico Eisenhauer & Zhanfeng Liu (刘占锋)

www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

Mycorrhizal allies: synergizing forest carbon and multifunctional restoration

While forest degradation persists across many regions, restoration efforts have predominantly targeted aboveground carbon, often overlooking critical belowground ecosystem functions. Plant–mycorrhizal...

www.cell.com

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Evelina Tutucci @anilevetu.bsky.social · Aug 26

Beatiful article @tobykiers.bsky.social !
Source: NPR
search.app/tP7Ep

How plants and fungi trade resources without a brain

Fungi and plants have something to teach humans about global trade and cooperation

search.app

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Toby Kiers @tobykiers.bsky.social · Sep 2

Oh wow. Thanks for sharing Evelina.

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Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) @spun.earth · Jul 28

Fungal networks have remained in the dark, despite the extraordinary ways they sustain life on land and they need urgent protection.

Read the article by Taro Kaneko in the @theguardian.com here: www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

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The Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative @thegsbi.bsky.social · Jul 25

📣 GSBI's latest blog has just been published 🎉

In this blog, Dr. Laura Van Galen discusses the mystery of dark taxa in ectomycorrhizal fungi 🍄

Read it here 👇

www.globalsoilbiodiversity.org/blog-beneath...

The problem of “dark taxa” in ectomycorrhizal fungal conservation and research — Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative

Laura van Galen, ETH Zürich (Switzerland) & SPUN (Society for the Protection of Underground Networks)

www.globalsoilbiodiversity.org

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Chris McDermott @chrismcdermott.bsky.social · Jul 25

“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.” @tobykiers.bsky.social , @spun.earth

Earth’s Underground Fungi Networks Need Urgent Protection: Study - EcoWatch

The underground fungi networks that help sustain Earth’s ecosystems are in need of urgent conservation action, according to SPUN.

www.ecowatch.com

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Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) @spun.earth · Jul 25

SPUN is featured in @science.org in a piece written by @humbertobasilio.bsky.social. Learn where some of the most unique fungal communities exist, such as West Africa’s Guinean forests, Tasmania’s temperate rainforests, and Brazil’s Cerrado savanna.

Read here: www.science.org/content/arti...

Most of Earth’s critical underground fungus is unprotected

First global map of mushrooms that form beneficial relationships with plant roots reveals 90% live outside of conservation areas

www.science.org

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Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) @spun.earth · Jul 23

Who lives underground?

Find out now in our new paper published in @nature.com.

Key finding: 90% of predicted mycorrhizal biodiversity hotspots lie outside protected areas.

Read here: buff.ly/WmDqAP3 🧵

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Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) @spun.earth · Jul 9

We know most animals don’t cross the Wallace Line. Not even those with wings.

But what about fungi?

Underground Explorer Helbert Lim is studying the influence of the Wallace on fungal dispersal, with the potential of recording new species.

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Justin Stewart @thecrobe.bsky.social · Jun 23

🌾 New PhD chapter OneEarth @cp-oneearth.bsky.social

For decades, crops were thought to yield better outside their centers of origin by escaping native pests and diseases.

Using AI and remote sensing, we found no yield advantages for crops outside origins.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Crop yields are not greater outside centers of origin

Scientists have long posited that crops achieve higher yields outside their centers of origin by escaping pests and pathogens. However, this assumptio…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Wyatt Myskow @wyattmyskow.bsky.social · Jun 23

The saguaro cactus is an icon of the American West.

But little is known about a key factor to their long lives and resiliency hidden under the ground: mycorrhizal fungi.

Researchers with @spun.earth are trying to change that.

My latest:
insideclimatenews.org/news/2206202...

Searching for Hidden Fungi in the Sonoran Desert - Inside Climate News

Mycorrhizal fungi are vital to ecosystems around the world, but remain largely understudied, especially in arid regions. They may prove critical to the survival of fragile deserts stressed by climate ...

insideclimatenews.org

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Toby Kiers @tobykiers.bsky.social · Jun 20

congrats on such a beautiful piece of work

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Vasilis Kokkoris @vkokkoris.bsky.social · Jun 20

🧪🧬Should we reignite genetic manipulation attempts on #arbuscular #mycorrhizal #fungi? Our review in @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social suggests the time is ripe.

With: Midge Woodward @paszkowskilab.bsky.social @alexdallaire.bsky.social

Open access🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...

#scicomm

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Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · Jun 20

Is genetic manipulation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi possible?

@cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social review from @vkokkoris.bsky.social

www.cell.com/trends/micro...

Is genetic manipulation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi possible?

Unlike many fungi, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi have proven recalcitrant to genetic manipulation due to their obligate biotrophic lifestyle and multinucleate, coenocytic cellular structure. In th...

www.cell.com

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Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) @spun.earth · Jun 18

Find out why SPUN scientists @camilletruong.bsky.social and @laura-vangalen.bsky.social are desperate to know more about dark taxa in this new article by Daniel Graham, featured on BBC Magazine's Discover Wildlife: www.discoverwildlife.com/environment/...

Dark taxa: why scientists are desperate to know more about this secret network of underground life | Discover Wildlife

Huge numbers of subterranean fungi remain unknown to science, posing problems for conservation around the world, say researchers.

www.discoverwildlife.com

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Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) @spun.earth · Jun 11

Have you ever heard of the term “dark taxa”?

Published in @currentbiology.bsky.social‬, a new study reveals an astonishing 83% of ectomycorrhizal #fungi are classified as dark taxa, existing only through their DNA sequences and eluding formal classification. 🧵

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Toby Kiers @tobykiers.bsky.social · Jun 10

Thanks for the post Mark!

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Restoring Ecosystems @restoring.bsky.social · Jun 10

Vital DNA research on ‘invisible’ species of fungi performing those functions that transformed 🌍 and maintain essential ecosystem functions

Still so much to learn! 🍄‍🟫

Huge congratulations to @spun.earth & the wonderful @bethanfmanley.bsky.social @tobykiers.bsky.social &
@thecrobe.bsky.social

Laura van Galen @laura-vangalen.bsky.social · Jun 10

Our paper shows that most ectomycorrhizal fungal species (83% of OTUs) are "dark taxa": species we detect in DNA, but can't match to known species names. We map global "darkspots" - the parts of the world most in need of more research. @spun.earth @ethz.ch www.cell.com/current-biol...

The biogeography and conservation of Earth’s ‘dark’ ectomycorrhizal fungi

In this review, van Galen et al. use global soil metabarcoding databases to evaluate current estimates of the total number of ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungal species on Earth, outline the current state o...

www.cell.com

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Vasilis Kokkoris @vkokkoris.bsky.social · Jun 10

📢Our synthesis of current knowledge on the fascinating cell of #arbuscular #mycorrhizal fungi is out @currentbiology.bsky.social, part of the special #fungi issue. With @rachaelcargill.bsky.social @tobykiers.bsky.social @thomasshimizu.bsky.social

Open access link: www.cell.com/current-biol...

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Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) @spun.earth · Jun 10

Most fungi in Madagascar remain a mystery and one of few Malagasy mycologists, Underground Explorer Dr. Anna Ralaiveloarisoa, is working alongside Kew Madagascar and PBZT, to urgently catalog fungal communities before they vanish.

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Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) @spun.earth · May 27

Healthy soil fosters a thriving ecosystem. In Mexico, nearly 45% of land has degraded soils and we lack sufficient data.

Underground Explorer Roberto Garibay, alongside UNAM experts, are working on the Atlas of Mexico’s Soil Biodiversity to enhance research, education, and outreach efforts.

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Toby Kiers @tobykiers.bsky.social · May 23

Digging deep for mycorrhizal fungi at 12K feet in upland Peru. Great to be led by @hhwalter.bsky.social as we explored deep soil fungal communities and their role in regulating the climate. Sound ON for full experience of Cosmo Sheldrake on clawhammer banjo ⬇️

Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) @spun.earth · May 22

What fungi live deep in the Earth’s grassland soils? We joined @hhwalter.bsky.social in Manu National Park in Peru to sample mycorrhizal fungi in high-altitude grasslands.

This project with Fungi Foundation explores how deep soil fungi help regulate the Earth's carbon cycle.

🌍 #BiodiversityDay

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Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) @spun.earth · May 12

The argan tree is one of the oldest tree species on earth –believed to have grown over 80 million years ago in south Morocco. Together with Underground Explorer Grace Gachara and team, we are asking: are there endemic fungal species hidden below the argan trees of Morocco?

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Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · May 1

Fungal-mediated soil aggregation as a mechanism for carbon stabilization

#ISMEJournal by @stevendegoede.bsky.social, @ehannula.bsky.social, Boris Jansen and Elly Morriën

academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

Fungal-mediated soil aggregation as a mechanism for carbon stabilization

Abstract. Soils can potentially be turned into net carbon sinks for atmospheric carbon to offset anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Occlusion of soil

academic.oup.com

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