Glossary

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are the ancient, ancestral form of mycorrhizal symbiosis. These fungi played a key part in the movement of plants’ ancestors onto dry land. By the time the first roots evolved, the mycorrhizal association was already some 50 million years old.

A biodiversity hotspot is a unique region which is a) threatened by human activity b) contains at least 1500 endemic vascular plants not found elsewhere and c) retains 30% or less of its original vegetation.

Biodiversity mapping aims to map the distribution of plant, fungal, and animal species for a given area. The goal is to record species distributions and spatial dynamics of biological diversity and habitats. Because the planet is in a biodiversity crisis, SPUN's approach is to benchmark biodiversity in order to understand changes over time caused by factors such as agricultural expansion and urbanization. This is a central part of SPUN's mission: to map and protect the fungal networks that regulate the earth's climate and ecosystems.

A bioinformatics pipeline uses software algorithms to store, organize, and analyze biological data relative to genomic sequencing.

A geographical area defined by its distinct flora and fauna. Biomes are characterised by the specific biological communities and species that have formed in response to the physical environment, such as soil types and climate. SPUN and our partners are working to have funga included as a defining factor of biomes. Biomes are made of ecoregions.

The process of fixing, capturing, or removing carbon from the atmosphere and/or storing it in a carbon pool. This is a naturally occurring process. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. Mycorrhizal fungi help draw carbon into soil systems. 75% of all terrestrial carbon is stored underground. Carbon is stored in plants, soil, and oceans, and fungi.

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR), is the deliberate removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere through a range of human activities. CDR is a process meant to reverse the global warming effects caused by greenhouse gasses through “negative emissions.” Also called carbon drawdown, this involves storing or locking carbon into plants (reforestation or afforestation), oceans (ocean-based carbon retention), soils (soil carbon sequestration), and biomass materials (biomass carbon removal) among others. SPUN aims to encourage the continued sequestration of carbon in mycorrhizal networks, and to stop the carbon release caused by loss of fungal networks.

Collaboration between members of the general public and scientists for the purpose of collecting and analyzing data of the natural world.

Long term changes to the average weather and temperature patterns which define Earth’s climate. Causes may be natural or man-made. The current period of climate change (the Anthropocene) is man-made, originating with the Industrial Revolution and burning of fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and gas.

Conservation is the act of protecting natural environments. This includes preservation and management (stewardship) for use by future generations. Degraded environments may require restoration. Conservation refers to natural environments and all their components; microbial and fungal communities, vascular plants such as trees, grasses, ferns, and animal populations. SPUN is dedicated to the conservation of fungal biodiversity.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) extraction, first accomplished in 1896, is the process whereby DNA is separated and isolated from other cellular components. SPUN uses DNA extraction as a method to isolate and identify the mycorrhizal strains present in soil samples.

DNA sequencing is used to determine the exact order of nucleotide bases (the molecular building blocks that make up DNA) by laboratory techniques. The four bases are adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. SPUN collects soil samples and sequences the samples’ DNA in order to identify which mycorrhizal species and groups are found at each sampling point (GPS coordinates) at the time of soil collection.

Data science is the use of statistics and mathematics to observe patterns and gain insights from data. This is accomplished with scientific computing, algorithms, big data analysis, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). The goal is to extract knowledge and use resulting insights for decision-making purposes. SPUN uses data science to identify and catalog mycorrhizal species, mapping them to their respective environments and looking for patterns to help understand their roles across biomes.

Another name for an ecosystem, but defined by the RESOLVE database. Biodiversity within ecoregions is more similar within the ecoregion compared to outside or between ecoregions. Groups of ecoregions constitute biomes.

An ecosystem is formed by interactions between organisms and their environment, and can be any size. The components can be both biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living). Examples of ecosystems are forests, grasslands, coral reefs, deserts, rainforests and tundra.

Ecosystem biodiversity refers to variations between ecosystems. An ecosystem is comprised of its organisms, their environment, and the interactions between the two. Ecosystem diversity is the study of different ecosystems and types of diversity, such as species, genetic, and functional variation.

Ecosystem engineers are species that impact their environment in positive or negative ways, through creation, destruction, or modification of habitats. Popular examples are beavers, corals, termites, and woodpeckers. Although largely invisible, fungal networks act as engineers to increase biodiversity and ecosystem resilience by protecting plants. Examples are preventing disease and boosting the ability of plants to defend against insect pests by triggering the production of defensive chemicals. Mycorrhizal fungal networks have shaped life on earth for millions of years and play a major role in engineering our climate. Mycorrhizal networks are also a major carbon sink, which limits global heating. Five hundred million years ago, fungi played a role in the movement of aquatic plants to land by acting as plant root systems, allowing plants to obtain crucial nutrients. These symbiotic associations, which continue today, shaped life on earth, as plant-fungal partnerships coincided with a 90% reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide. SPUN is working to address this global blindspot: the vast underground networks responsible for sequestering carbon and sustaining life on earth. There are an estimated 450 quadrillion km of fungal mycelium in the top 10cm of earth’s soils.

Ecosystem regeneration is the restoration of an ecosystem and/or its components to recover from damage inflicted by humans or environmental disasters. Restoring an ecosystem might refer to the microbial population, the animals higher up on the food chain, or the restoration of habitat (for any of an ecosystem's inhabitants). The UN defines environmental regeneration as preventing, halting, and reversing the loss of nature. SPUN's goal in terms of ecosystem regeneration is defending biodiversity, which will help mitigating climate change among other benefits.

Trees in most boreal and temperate forests depend on ectomycorrhizal associations. Unlike arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, ectomycorrhizal fungi do not grow into plant cells (”ecto” means outside).

Funga refers to diversity of fungal communities. It is the Fauna and Flora equivalent to the kingdom of Fungi. The term was coined and introduced in 2018 by Kuhar, Furci, Drechsler-Santos, and Pfister.

Fungal biodiversity refers to the variety of fungus on the planet. Fungal biodiversity may be used, for example, to measure soil quality and fertility.

Fungal conservation is the process of recognising, cataloging, and advocating for the conservation of fungi. Cataloging and identifying fungi can take the form of collecting mushrooms from the environment or genetic sequencing from soils or tissue samples. Conservation may involve natural habitat protection in places where fungi and their associated plants live. Frameworks are also needed, meaning formal efforts to recognise and include fungi in international conservation policy and agreements. Documenting global principles of fungal conservation was made a priority in the 2007 Fungi of the Earth Declaration of Cordoba. Cataloging species helps scientists estimate the global number of fungal species. The current estimate is 2-3 million fungal species globally.

A subset of restoration ecology, or regenerative ecosystem management, fungal restoration can take many forms. The primary goals are protecting and conserving fungal populations and species threatened by loss to soil degradation, and halting biodiversity loss. An additional benefit is supporting the numerous ecosystem services that fungi provide. Fungal restoration can include soil microbe restoration which leads to increases in plant biomass productivity and helps plants increase their resistance to shock. Some ecosystem services are important for food production while others are important for ecosystems and all of their inhabitants. Scientifically, SPUN is interested in studying how fungal populations support seed germination rates and plant growth and survival rates, for regeneration, reforestation, and afforestation. Fungi are key drivers in vegetation succession, as they deliver the specific nutrients needed by a plant. Fungal restoration is difficult to measure. SPUN is taking steps towards fungal restoration by bench-marking (making an inventory at a point in time) of current fungal populations.

Fungi and climate. As ecosystem engineers [hyperlink glossary def] fungi are central to regulating Earth's climate because they are an integral part of the carbon cycle. Fungi play a role in climate regulation by sequestering carbon both directly, as fungal networks’ biomass is made of carbon compounds, and indirectly by helping plants to absorb and store carbon. Fungi also play a role in restoring soils and keeping them healthy. SPUN is a key player in the work to highlight the crucial role played by mycorrhizal fungi in climate management. SPUN scientists recently published research quantifying the amount of carbon plants trade to mycorrhizal fungi: approximately three quarters of Earth's terrestrial carbon, which is the equivalent to more than a third of global annual fossil fuel emissions, is drawn down from plants through fungi into soils each year.

Fungi is the plural of fungus. Fungus are the group of eukaryotic organisms known collectively as the kingdom of fungi, which includes mushrooms, molds, yeasts, rusts, mildews, and smuts.

Geographic information systems (GIS) are computer-based techniques for capturing and storing data relative to positions on Earth's surface, essentially the creation of maps. GIS allows researchers to spatially capture, visualize, and analyze layers of related information. SPUN relies on geographic information systems to a) precisely locate and record soil sampling sites and b) generate predictive biodiversity mapping.

GEE (Google Earth Engine) is the infrastructure required to train, test, and launch global predictive models of mycorrhizal biodiversity and function.

Ground truthing is the process of obtaining, by direct measurement, facts about a given situation, i.e soil microbial populations. It is used to check the accuracy of models and predictions against real observable conditions. SPUN uses algorithms to generate predictive biodiversity hotspots, and ground truthing to check if the models are accurate.

The density of hyphae in soils is an important metric of how much mycelium is made outside plant roots by mycorrhizal fungi in soils. Dense hyphal networks hold more carbon.

Machine Learning (ML) is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) which uses past (collected) data to learn and identify patterns, often in order to make predictions. SPUN uses machine learning, incorporating DNA data on mycorrhizal fungi and layers of environmental data such as temperature, precipitation, and land use, to predict where mycorrhizal fungi are present in regions of the world where we don’t have soil DNA samples. This allows us to create worldwide maps of hotspots of mycorrhizal diversity, without having to sample every square meter of the Earth.

In microbiology, metagenomics studies a community of organisms, for example to build a taxonomical profile of soil samples, and describe the structure and function of nucleotide sequences. Within metagenomics, metatranscriptomics are used to study the gene expression of microbes.

The population of bacteria, viruses, and fungi which populate an environment such as a soil or an organism.

Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungi, which appear aboveground for the purpose of releasing spores (airborne seeds) for reproduction.

Mycelium are the vegetative part of fungi, made up of hyphae; root-like structures comprised of fine filaments. A mycelium is a mass of fungus made up of a mass of hyphae.

Mycology is the study of fungi. A mycologist is a person who studies fungi.

Mycorrhiza means "fungus-root" and refers to fungal roots and the symbiotic relations between plants and fungi. Mycorrhizae are fungi which live in plant rhizospheres.

The word “mycorrhizal” can be translated as “fungus-root”. “Myco” (fungus) and “rhiza” (root), partner in beneficial symbiotic relationships called symbiotic mutualisms to form mycorrhizal fungi. Mycorrhizal networks can grow over large areas and form underground trading networks with plants. This relationship effectively extends plant and tree root systems out into soil, giving them the ability to get the nutrients they need to live. Plants derive glucose (sugar) from photosynthesis and trade it to the fungi for key nutrients that fungi are able get from the environment by foraging, hunting, and mining. More than 90% of terrestrial plants rely on these relationships to get food and water, and have done so for hundreds of millions of years. These partnerships allowed plants to move from water to land.

Both natural and managed ecosystems fall under nature-based solutions: efforts to protect, manage, and restore ecosystems for the purpose of human and biodiversity benefits. Benefits include harnessing healthy ecosystem(s) for their potential, safeguarding biodiversity, and delivering ecosystem services. In practice this means sustainable natural solutions, techniques, projects, and initiatives which deliver results. In other words, solutions that simultaneously protect and harness natural ecosystems (habitats), benefiting humans and nature itself in the process. An example of an ecosystem which would benefit from nature-based solutions is land that has been damaged by mono-cropping and intensive chemical-input agriculture as characterized by the Green Revolution. There is evidence that agricultural practices can change which species of mycorrhizal fungi are present, for example intensive agriculture versus natural systems.

Regenerative agriculture is a nature-based conservation and rehabilitation approach combining food production and ecosystem restoration. The broad goals are conservation, rehabilitation, restoration and regeneration. These goals are pursued through various techniques and principles intended to benefit (regenerate) organic matter and life in the soil, as opposed to just extracting nutrients. Attention to soil fertility, water management, and biodiversity is meant to deliver benefits both for food production and ecosystem health: resilience to shock and climate change, soil health and vitality. In regenerative agriculture fungi can help with drought (by providing water to plants), resistance to pathogens, and nutrient acquisition from healthy soils. SPUN is an advocate of no-till and reduced-tillage practices, which can have significant impact when implemented on large farms.

Restoration ecology works to restore the natural integrity and resilience of ecosystem(s). Some examples are attempts to reverse damages such as forests, clear-cuts, pollution, overfishing, eutrophication, and compromised habitats. Essentially, restoration ecology is the recovery of degraded, damaged, and unsustainably managed ecosystems. Species decline and extinction and reduced ecosystem services are primarily caused by habitat loss. SPUN is chiefly concerned with stopping and reversing loss of fungal life, and regenerating populations.

Scientific research organizations serve the public, research communities, and governments by contributing to national and international efforts to collect and analyze data by conducting and verifying laboratory experiments and research. Scientific research organizations are often non-profit, and can support both primary and secondary research and teaching.

The process of collecting soil samples for genetic or chemical analysis. SPUN follows a modified version of the Silva Nova/SoilBon protocols which you can read about here.

The practice of caring for soils and nurturing microbial communities in soil, preventing erosion and other threats to soil health, so that future generations may benefit from the resource. Soil is a finite living resource, and can take thousands of years to form.

Soil carbon is organic carbon stored in soil. Storage of carbon in the soil is an ecosystem service. Soil management techniques determine whether organic carbon is stored in or released from soils. Soil organic carbon forms an essential part of the soil-organic-matter component of healthy soil. SPUN's interest is to make information available about how to manage soils and soil carbon through fungal management.

Soil organic matter (SOM) are the organic components of soil; carbon-based materials, living, and non-living components in various states of decomposition. Examples are plant roots, microbes, and organic matter humans add to the soil. Soil organic matter is an essential component of healthy soil, and a good way to measure soil fertility. SOM is also the largest terrestrial reservoir of sequestered carbon. More SOM means increased ecosystem services including arability, water infiltration for reduced flooding, and mineral throughput for healthier plants with higher disease and drought resistance. SOM is therefore also a key indicator of soil health, allowing soils to perform, and giving humans the agricultural productivity on which our societies depend.
Depleting SOM and soil health can lead to desertification and loss of productivity, habitat, and biodiversity. SPUN works to demonstrate and advocate for the fungal elements that underpin soil organic matter.

Symbiosis is a biological relationship between different species. Symbiotic associations can be mutualistic (mutually beneficial), commensalistic, or parasitic. Members of different species in symbiotic interactions are symbionts.

Uncertainty is the quantification of the unknown, a key process in science. Quantifying uncertainty and how it propagates through our stack of data to our prediction layers is important to identify the source of uncertainty. SPUN research is guided by uncertainty, helping us map the Earth’s least explored ecosystems: namely, where environments and ecoregions are not covered by our current database, where our predictions are have high uncertainty, but are not environmentally unique, and sub-pixel error where we lack information below our prediction resolution

Underground Explorers is a program through which SPUN collaborates with scientists, researchers, and local communities to map mycorrhizal fungal networks in their respective home ecosystems. Click here to read more about the Underground Explorers Program.

Underground ecosystems are subterranean habitats which are largely hidden below the ground. Important components of underground ecosystems to consider are soil, root networks, mycorrhizal fungi, and microbial populations. SPUN's goal is to highlight the crucial role the underground plays in supporting life aboveground. Prominent examples of ecosystem services delivered by the underground are nutrient cycling, carbon (re)sequestration, and water storage and purification.