The sprawling underground networks of fungi that sustain terrestrial ecosystems across the planet are in urgent need of conservation action, according to new research published in the journal Nature. Scientists from the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) have found that an overwhelming 90 percent of global mycorrhizal fungi biodiversity hotspots are currently located in unprotected ecosystems. The loss or degradation of these vital underground communities could drastically reduce carbon emissions reduction rates, diminish agricultural crop productivity, and severely compromise the resilience of natural ecosystems in the face of escalating climate extremes.
Mycorrhizal fungi perform critical ecological functions, cycling essential nutrients, storing vast amounts of carbon, supporting plant health, and fundamentally building healthy soil. When these subterranean ecosystem engineers are disrupted, forest regeneration slows down, crops fail, and biodiversity above ground begins to unravel.
Reflecting on the evolutionary history of life on Earth, Dr. Toby Kiers, executive director of SPUN, noted that roughly 450 million years ago, there were no plants on land. It was through the pioneering establishment of these mycorrhizal fungal networks that plants were first able to colonize the planet and eventually lay the foundation for supporting human life.
"If we have healthy fungal networks, then we will have greater agricultural productivity, bigger and beautiful flowers, and can protect plants against pathogens," Kiers said.
By analyzing more than 2.8 billion fungal sequences gathered from 130 countries, researchers were able to construct high-resolution, predictive biodiversity maps illustrating the distribution of the planet’s underground mycorrhizal fungal communities. This study marks the first time that SPUN’s ambitious 2021 world mapping initiative has been applied on such a massive global scale.
For centuries, humanity has meticulously mapped mountains, forests, and oceans, yet underground fungi have remained largely in the dark despite their extraordinary role in sustaining life on land. This new initiative allows scientists, conservationists, and the public to visualize these hidden biodiversity patterns for the very first time, exposing a glaring blind spot in global conservation efforts.
Mycorrhizal fungi regulate ecosystems and shape the global climate by forming complex underground webs that supply essential nutrients to plants while drawing more than 13 billion tons of carbon annually into the soil—an amount equivalent to roughly a third of global fossil fuel emissions. Despite serving as a planetary circulatory system for carbon and nutrients, these fungi have been largely overlooked in international climate change strategies, conservation agendas, and habitat restoration initiatives. Experts warn that this oversight is deeply problematic, as the ongoing disruption of these subterranean networks only serves to accelerate both climate change and the loss of biodiversity.
Currently, a mere 9.5 percent of global fungal biodiversity hotspots are situated inside existing protected areas. Conservation scientists emphasize that overcoming this oversight is essential for addressing the environmental crises of the modern era. Dr. Merlin Sheldrake, impact director at SPUN, noted that these maps help alleviate what he describes as "fungus blindness," equipping society to better tackle urgent global challenges.
The newly developed maps are designed to serve as practical resources for decision-makers across policy, law, climate initiatives, and conservation frameworks. Conservation groups, academic researchers, and governmental policymakers can utilize the platform to pinpoint biodiversity hotspots, prioritize environmental interventions, and inform the designation of new protected areas. Furthermore, the tool enables leaders to search for underground ecosystems that are predicted to harbor unique, endemic fungal communities, opening up new pathways to establish dedicated underground conservation corridors.
Among the unique and vulnerable fungal communities highlighted by the research are West Africa’s Guinean forests, Tasmania’s temperate rainforests, and the Cerrado savanna in Brazil. Prominent global advisors supporting SPUN’s mission include renowned conservationist Jane Goodall, authors Paul Hawken and Michael Pollan, and Giuliana Furci, founder of the Fungi Foundation. Jason Cremerius, SPUN’s chief strategy officer, emphasized that the ultimate goal is to ensure underground biodiversity becomes just as fundamental to environmental decision-making as satellite imagery is today.
These high-resolution maps are also expected to play a crucial role in leveraging fungi for the ecological regeneration of degraded landscapes. Historically, habitat restoration practices have been dangerously incomplete because conservation efforts have focused almost exclusively on life above ground. According to Dr. Alex Wegmann, a lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy, these maps provide quantitative targets for restoration managers, helping them understand what healthy, diverse mycorrhizal communities should look like in specific regions.
The research effort is bolstered by an international network of 96 "Underground Explorers" spanning nearly 80 countries, alongside more than 400 collaborating scientists. Together, they continue to sample some of the most remote and hard-to-access underground ecosystems on Earth, including challenging terrain in Bhutan, Mongolia, Ukraine, and Pakistan. Although just a tiny fraction of one percent of the planet’s surface has been sampled so far, SPUN’s expanding dataset already encompasses more than 40,000 specimens representing an estimated 95,000 mycorrhizal fungal taxa.
As researchers and policymakers digest the findings of the Nature study—titled "Global hotspots of mycorrhizal fungal richness are poorly protected"—the core message from SPUN remains stark. The newly revealed maps do not merely represent advanced scientific tools; they expose precisely what the world stands to lose if it continues to ignore the unseen foundations that sustain life on Earth.
