Laura van Galen
@laura-vangalen.bsky.social
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📥 44
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Mycorrhizal fungal ecologist at ETH Zürich
If you are in need of soil microbial data relating to PLFAs or enzyme activities, check out our latest paper that provides an open-access global database of data form around the world. Thanks very much to the long list of collaborators who made this happen!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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A global database of soil microbial phospholipid fatty acids and enzyme activities - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - A global database of soil microbial phospholipid fatty acids and enzyme activities
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-025-05759-2
7 days ago
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reposted by
Laura van Galen
Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN)
2 months ago
Can plant biodiversity predict underground fungal diversity? New study published in Nature Communications finds only 8.8% of arbuscular mycorrhizal and 1.5% of ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity hotspots overlap with plant hotspots. Link to paper:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧵
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Our paper mapping plant and mycorrhizal fungal diversity correlations is out! Relationships are weak at the global level, but both positive and negative at smaller scales. Plants are not always proxies for fungi — fungi need their own conservation focus
@spun.earth
@ethz.ch
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
2 months ago
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reposted by
Laura van Galen
The Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative
2 months ago
📣 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...
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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)
https://www.globalsoilbiodiversity.org/blog-beneath-our-feet/2025/7/24/the-problem-of-dark-taxa-in-ectomycorrhizal-fungal-conservation-and-research
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It was great to be part of this paper mapping mycorrhizal fungal diversity around the world!
add a skeleton here at some point
2 months ago
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reposted by
Laura van Galen
Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN)
3 months ago
Great to see this and thanks for highlighting our study, led by
@laura-vangalen.bsky.social
in this article.
add a skeleton here at some point
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reposted by
Laura van Galen
Katie Field
3 months ago
Tom Parker
@hutton.ac.uk
and I wrote for
@theconversation.com
discussing why it’s important to find out what’s out there in terms of mycorrhizal fungi following a the revent review in
@currentbiology.bsky.social
by the
@spun.earth
team. Read it here:
theconversation.com/most-plant-f...
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Most plant-friendly fungi are a mystery to scientists
Most fungi that partner with plants are known only from trace DNA sequences left in soil.
https://theconversation.com/most-plant-friendly-fungi-are-a-mystery-to-scientists-259705
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reposted by
Laura van Galen
Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN)
4 months ago
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/...
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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.
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/environment/dark-taxa
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reposted by
Laura van Galen
Current Biology
4 months ago
The "dark"
#biodiversity
of ectomycorrhizal
#fungi
Epic review in our 🍄 special issue by Laura van Galen
@laura-vangalen.bsky.social
and many many others!
www.cell.com/current-biol...
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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...
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00426-9
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reposted by
Laura van Galen
Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN)
4 months ago
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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reposted by
Laura van Galen
Adriana Corrales
4 months ago
So excited to see this published! Congratulations
@laura-vangalen.bsky.social
and all coauthors! Link to paper here
www.cell.com/current-biol...
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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...
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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...
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822%2825%2900426-9
4 months ago
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reposted by
Laura van Galen
Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN)
8 months ago
Microbes are critical to life on Earth. But they’re unsung heroes, unrecognized by international policies. A new paper by SPUN collaborator
@laura-vangalen.bsky.social
underlines how indispensable microbe-based technologies are to achieve ALL of the
#SDGs
.
https://buff.ly/3WwlZBU
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