With Merlin Sheldrake, @tobykiers.bsky.social, @hhwalter.bsky.social, & Fungi Foundation’s Giuliana Furci, we’re mapping deep soil fungi in the high-altitude grasslands of Peru. Special thanks to Cosmo Sheldrake, elders from the Q'ero and Ccorca communities and Miski Tours. 📸 Tomás Munita

👏 Twaalf jonge onderzoekers zijn door de KNAW onderscheiden met een 𝗞𝗡𝗔𝗪 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱. Met deze prijs erkent de KNAW hun wetenschappelijke talent maar ook hun rol als bijv. docent. Benieuwd naar hun onderzoek? Kijk dan hier: www.knaw.nl/nl/nieuws/di...

Recently, we mapped endemic fungal networks in Zagori 🇬🇷 with @seanmaston.bsky.social, @vkokkoris.bsky.social and team. Vikos Gorge is a hotspot for endangered species, with underground systems supported by rock formations ~160 million yrs old. We're now returning to cover more ground.

This week, I was awarded a MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant. So proud to be included among individuals recognized for “extraordinary originality & dedication in their creative pursuits”. This research has been possible because I collaborate with the most incredible teams. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/a...

Congrats to Executive Director @tobykiers.bsky.social on being named a 2025 #MacFellow by the MacArthur Foundation (buff.ly/HOU1qb7). Also called the “Genius Grant,” it’s one of the largest awards in the US, honoring exceptionally talented and creative individuals. Shout out to fellow awardees! 👏

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-...

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...

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

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...

📣 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...

“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

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...

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 🧵

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.

🌾 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...

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...

🧪🧬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

Is genetic manipulation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi possible? @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social review from @vkokkoris.bsky.social www.cell.com/trends/micro...

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/...

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. 🧵

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

📢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... 1/4

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.

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.

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 ⬇️

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?

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...

This week, we marked National Caatinga Day. The Caatinga–a unique and vulnerable biome found only in Brazil, covers 10% of the land. 🇧🇷 Underground Explorer @ariadnefurtado.bsky.social and team are in Brejos de Altitude, studying which fungi aid in local habitat maintenance and regeneration. 🍄

Join us in Amsterdam to explore the inner lives of mycorrhizal fungi using robotics, fluorescence microscopy & machine learning. Work at AMOLF w/ @thomasshimizu.bsky.social + more 📅 Application Deadline: 15 May, 2025 Advert here: amolf.nl/wp-content/u... Photo (!) @vkokkoris.bsky.social

Want to help protect the (under)Earth? Here are five things you can do...🧵

Mongolia’s grasslands are under threat, with an alarming 90% vulnerable to desertification. Merlin Sheldrake, @tobykiers.bsky.social, Burenjargal Otgonsuren and Fungi Foundation’s Giuliana Furci are learning how fungi play a part in protecting this important and unique ecosystem. 📸 Tomás Munita

Why are @vkokkoris.bsky.social and @seanmaston.bsky.social exploring deep soil fungi? Underground fungal networks are crucial for drawing carbon belowground. Topsoil carbon can be released due to land use and agricultural practices, so the role of deep soil fungi remains vital.

Good news for fungal networks in Europe as the EU moves towards healthier soils.  The Soil Monitoring Law will pave the way for healthier soils that benefit us, and our environment: buff.ly/SodAQYg Protect soils. Protect the Underground.   📷 Seth Carnill and Quentin van den Bossche

Mooi artikel in @trouw.nl over het belang van schimmels en ander bodemleven! Met veel aandacht voor ons onderzoek en dat van @tobykiers.bsky.social 😇 www.trouw.nl/duurzaamheid...

Underground ecosystems have been ignored for too long. Listen to @tobykiers.bsky.social and Merlin Sheldrake discuss the universe beneath our feet on this episode of Nature's Genius.

OK, this is pretty cool. My first ever lab mate from the Ford Denison lab, @tobykiers.bsky.social and I had nearly back to back covers this month at Nature. Neither of us work on the legume-rhizobium symbiosis anymore, and both work in fungi! Also- look at how similar those network topologies are!

What a star @stuwest.bsky.social - You are the Jedi master of conceptual unification.

I’ve been listening to @scifri.bsky.social for over two decades. The excitement was palpable when I joined last week to talk about our newest on mycorrhizal fungi & subterranean supply chains. My favorite question: why does this work keep me up at night? www.sciencefriday.com/segments/fun...

What’s happening beneath Patagonia’s changing landscape? The Patagonian drylands’ native willows are being pushed out by invasive non-native ones—but how do #fungi fit into this story? @nahpo.bsky.social a SPUN Underground Explorer, is digging into this mystery.👇📹 @martin-nunez.bsky.social

New paper out in @pnas.org A global estimate of multiecosystem photosynthesis losses under microplastic pollution With colleagues from Nanjing www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Fungi are extraordinary at solving complex problems. Incredible to see their strategies highlighted in @nytimes.com by @alanburdick.bsky.social The article is a visual journey of what we have been documenting in the lab over last few years with our imaging robot www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/s...

Fungi made Earth’s land liveable by building networks that released nutrients locked in primordial rock and supplied those nutrients to plant roots https://go.nature.com/41lvtBg

Many of these stellar scientists are now on Bluesky: @rachaelcargill.bsky.social @thecrobe.bsky.social @anilevetu.bsky.social @vkokkoris.bsky.social @tobykiers.bsky.social Check the paper for the full list of amazing researchers that contributed to this study. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We built a robot to track how plants and fungi exchange resources with remarkable efficiency. Happy to have contributed to this recent research in Nature, led by Loreto Oyarte Galvez and Corentin Bistot (cbisot.bsky.social) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our newest research in @nature.com We built a robot (!) to track plant-fungal trade networks. By following half a million fungal highways & nutrient flows within them, we discovered how plants & fungi build hyper-efficient supply chains www.nature.com/articles/s41... 📹 @sasaspacal.bsky.social

Our newest research on plant-fungal trade published today in @nature.com. The work, led by scientists from Vrije Universiteit, Princeton University, SPUN & AMOLF combines robotics, mycology & biophysics to reveal underground supply-chain dynamics. Open access: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

📣GSBI Speaks is back again in March! Join us to learn about soil inoculation 🦠🍄 March 19, 2025, 9:30 MDT, 11:30 EDT, 15:30 GMT, 16:30 CET Register here: zoom.us/webinar/regi... Learn more here: www.globalsoilbiodiversity.org/webinar-23-s...

I’m very happy to share our latest paper on arbuscular mycorrhizal traits. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Boost your garden’s productivity by increasing mycorrhizal #fungi in the soil. Dr. Vasilis Kokkoris from VU Amsterdam explains why mycorrhizae are beneficial for plant growth and soil health. Learn more about enhancing soil health here: www.spun.earth/articles/how...

🌳 Protect forests. Protect fungi. 🍄‍🟫 Mount Kenya's forests are rich in biodiversity. Dr. Hannah Karuri, SPUN Underground Explorer, is uncovering the fungal communities living beneath the forest floor. By comparing #fungi in protected vs unprotected areas, she hopes to help conservation efforts.