Scientists have released the world’s first high-resolution, predictive biodiversity maps of Earth’s underground mycorrhizal fungal communities, which they explain shows that over 90% of Earth’s most diverse underground mycorrhizal fungal ecosystems remain unprotected, threatening carbon drawdown, crop productivity, and ecosystem resilience to climate extremes.
The research, published on 23 July in the journal Nature, marks the first large-scale scientific application of the global mapping initiative launched by the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) in 2021.
Mycorrhizal fungi help regulate Earth’s climate and ecosystems by forming underground networks that provide plants with essential nutrients, while drawing ~13 billions tons of CO2 per year into soils – equivalent to roughly one-third of global emissions from fossil fuel. Despite their seemingly key role as planetary circulatory systems for carbon and nutrients, mycorrhizal fungi have been overlooked in climate change strategies, conservation agendas, and restoration efforts. This is problematic because disruption of networks accelerates climate change and biodiversity loss.
Using machine learning techniques on a dataset containing more than 2.8 billion fungal sequences sampled from 130 countries, scientists have created the first high-resolution diversity maps to predict mycorrhizal diversity at a 1km2 scale across the planet. Surprisingly, only 9.5% of these fungal biodiversity hotspots fall within existing protected areas, revealing major conservation gaps.
“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”, says Dr. Toby Kiers, Executive Director, SPUN. “They cycle nutrients, store carbon, support plant health, and make soil. When we disrupt these critical ecosystem engineers, forest regeneration slows, crops fail, and biodiversity aboveground begins to unravel. This is the first time we’re able to visualize these biodiversity patterns —and it’s clear we are failing to protect underground ecosystems.”
This effort, led by SPUN, brings together GlobalFungi, Fungi Foundation, the Global Soil Mycobiome consortium, and researchers around the world to reveal patterns of fungal richness and rarity across biomes—from the Amazon to the Arctic and marks a major breakthrough in how we understand and visualize life beneath our feet.
“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,” says Dr. Merlin Sheldrake, Director of Impact at SPUN.
Advancing underground science
In 2021, SPUN launched with a clear goal: to map Earth’s underground fungal communities with an aim to develop concrete resources for decision-makers, including in law, policy, and conservation and climate initiatives.
“These maps are more than scientific tools—they can help guide the future of conservation,” said Dr. Michael Van Nuland, lead-author & SPUN’s Lead Data Scientist. “Food security, water cycles, and climate resilience all depend on safeguarding these underground ecosystems.”
This work is being guided by a team of prominent advisors including conservationist Jane Goodall, authors Michael Pollan, and author Paul Hawken, and the founder of the Fungi Foundation, Giuliana Furci.
A new tool for conservation
SPUN’s findings are now accessible through an interactive tool, Underground Atlas, allowing users to explore mycorrhizal diversity patterns anywhere on Earth. “The idea is to ensure underground biodiversity becomes as fundamental to environmental decision-making as satellite imagery”, says Jason Cremerius, Chief Strategy Officer at SPUN.
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.
The maps will also be critical in leveraging fungi to regenerate degraded ecosystems. “Restoration practices have been dangerously incomplete because the focus has historically been on life aboveground,” said Dr. Alex Wegmann a Lead Scientist for The Nature Conservancy. “These high-resolution maps provide quantitative targets for restoration managers to establish what diverse mycorrhizal communities could and should look like.”
Urgent action is needed to incorporate findings into international biodiversity law and policy. For example, the Ghanaian coast is a global hotspot for mycorrhizal biodiversity. But the country’s coastline is eroding at roughly two meters per year. Scientists worry this critical biodiversity will soon be washed into the sea.
“Underground fungal systems have been largely invisible in law and policy,” said César Rodriguez-Garavito, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the More-Than-Human Life (MOTH) Program at NYU School of Law. “These data are incredibly important in strengthening law and policy on climate change and biodiversity loss across all of Earth’s underground ecosystems”
Global reach, local impact
Together with partners, SPUN has now assembled a dataset of over 40,000 samples comprising 95,000 mycorrhizal fungal taxa. With a global network of over 400 scientists, and 96 “Underground Explorers” from 79 countries, the international team is now sampling the Earth’s most hard-to-access, remote underground ecosystems, including in Mongolia, Bhutan, Pakistan, and Ukraine.
This global effort establishes a critical baseline to understand how these underground communities function and respond to environmental changes. “These maps reveal what we stand to lose if we fail to protect the underground,” says Dr Kiers.
SPUN is seeking new collaborators and funders to scale this work. Currently, only 0.001% of Earth’s surface has been sampled. More data means better maps, more precise restoration benchmarks, and more accurate identification of at-risk underground biodiversity. SPUN invites the public, conservationists, researchers and restoration groups to make use of the Underground Atlas, and provide feedback to help refine future versions.
Supporters of SPUN
Dr. Rebecca Shaw, Chief Scientist at WWF, explains “Mycorrhizal fungi need to be recognized as a priority in the ‘library of solutions’ to the some of the world’s greatest challenges – biodiversity decline, climate change, and declining food productivity. They deliver powerful ecosystem services whose benefits flow directly to people. This research should help elevate the protection and restoration of fungi and their networks to the top of conservation priorities.”
Call to action:
- Researchers: Partner with SPUN to expand data collection and analysis.
- Conservationists: Collaborate with SPUN to design informed conservation priorities and strategies
- Policymakers: Leverage SPUN’s research to include fungi and underground ecosystems into global and national biodiversity policies and restoration targets
- Public: Explore the Underground Atlas and donate
- Funders and donors: Connect with SPUN to fund the next phase of sampling and community-led restoration
