We are introducing a new digital tool for predicting mycorrhizal biodiversity and endemism across Earth’s underground ecosystems. This is the first step towards integrating mycorrhizal systems into global biodiversity, climate, and restoration targets.

New study finds that 83% of ectomycorrhizal fungi are known only by their DNA sequences, which can’t be linked to named or described species, posing problems for conservation.

In a groundbreaking statement, The Republic of Chile and The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, alongside other countries, are calling on the world’s environmental decision-makers to put fungi on the center stage as they announce the launch of an official Fungal Conservation Pledge. As representatives gather in October at the Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali, Colombia, we stand at a critical juncture in the preservation of our planet's biodiversity. The time to stand for fungi is now.

Underground ecosystems — and the fungi they contain — have been overlooked in climate solutions, biodiversity assessments, and conservation targets for too long. Fungal communities play a key role in regulating biodiversity, climate, and global nutrient cycles. Mycorrhizal fungi move carbon and nutrients across ecosystems, drawing down ~13 billion tons of CO2 per year. And yet an overwhelming majority of mycorrhizal biodiversity hotspots — and the vast carbon sinks they safeguard — remain unprotected.

Over the last three months, we have been working with local collaborators to sample fungi from the world’s driest desert to the dense, humid rainforests and tropical coastlines of West Africa. Also, we are growing our team at SPUN. See all the new roles listed at the bottom of the newsletter, and consider applying.

As COP28 begins, let’s keep the focus on fungi and put belowground biodiversity on center stage. We have exciting updates to share from the last three months, including sampling for fungi under ancient trees, an upcoming desert field research project, and a beautiful short film.

It’s been a busy few months in the underground. There has been exciting progress in recognizing the role of fungi in restoration as well as expeditions to some of the most remote ecosystems on Earth.

2023 has already been busy for SPUN. The team rang in the new year sampling soils together with Dr. Peter Chatanga, Dr. Sebolelo Molete, and Dr. Liteboho Maduna in the mountains of Lesotho, we announced the winners of the Underground Explorers grants, and we are working on exciting new tools that will help us identify the underground ecosystems most under threat.

Palmyra Atoll (December 12, 2022) - In the middle of the Pacific Ocean is an uninhabited atoll that houses underground mycorrhizal networks that may have evolved a unique ability to cycle nutrients between seabirds, rainforest trees, and coral reefs. The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) travelled to this remote atoll – a place so untouched that researchers had to freeze their clothes each night to prevent the introduction of non-native species to the protected islands – for a recent research expedition.

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.

This is the first newsletter for the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks. Our aim is to keep you up to date with emerging science, expedition activity, grant opportunities, and ways to stay involved.