Unseen World of Fungi Revealed: Over 90% of Earth's Underground Ecosystems Unprotected

Strategic Insights -

Scientists have released high-resolution maps of Earth's underground mycorrhizal fungal communities, revealing a major conservation gap. Despite their crucial role in regulating climate and ecosystems, more than 90% of the planet's most diverse underground ecosystems remain unprotected, threatening carbon drawdown, crop productivity, and ecosystem resilience. The research, published in the journal Nature, uses machine learning techniques to predict mycorrhizal diversity at a 1km2 scale across the planet.

Key Takeaways:

  • Over 90% of Earth's most diverse underground mycorrhizal fungal ecosystems remain unprotected, threatening ecosystem resilience and carbon drawdown.
  • Mycorrhizal fungi cycle nutrients, store carbon, support plant health, and make soil, playing a critical role in sustaining life on land.
  • Only 9.5% of fungal biodiversity hotspots fall within existing protected areas, revealing major conservation gaps.
  • The maps are generated using machine learning techniques on a dataset containing more than 2.8 billion fungal sequences sampled from 130 countries.
  • The research team, led by the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), aims to develop concrete resources for decision-makers, including in law, policy, and conservation and climate initiatives.
  • The SPUN's findings are now accessible through an interactive tool, Underground Atlas, allowing users to explore mycorrhizal diversity patterns anywhere on Earth.
  • Conservation groups, researchers, and policymakers can use the platform to identify biodiversity hotspots, prioritize interventions, and inform protected area designations.
  • The maps will also be critical in leveraging fungi to regenerate degraded ecosystems and provide quantitative targets for restoration managers.
  • Urgent action is needed to incorporate findings into international biodiversity law and policy to safeguard underground ecosystems.

Statistics:

  • 90.5% of Earth's diverse underground mycorrhizal fungal ecosystems remain unprotected.
  • 1,300,000 km2 of fungal biodiversity hotspots are outside existing protected areas.
  • The research team has assembled a dataset of over 40,000 samples comprising 95,000 mycorrhizal fungal taxa.
  • The global network of scientists has collected data from 130 countries.
  • The current sampling rate is 0.001% of Earth's surface.

Sources:

  • Nature, Van Nuland et al., "Global Hotspots of Mycorrhizal Fungal Richness are Poorly Protected" https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09277-4
  • VerticalNews, 2025 AUG 4
  • Global Warming Focus
  • Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN)
  • GlobalFungi
  • Fungi Foundation
  • Global Soil Mycobiome consortium