Underground Explorers

The insular portion of the Sonoran Desert in Mexico remains the least explored for its microbial diversity, particularly in desert shrublands rich in endemic, threatened, or endangered plant species, such as cacti. This proposal aims to document the taxonomic diversity of mycorrhizae associated with iconic, widely distributed, and long-lived species across an insular region spanning nearly 2,000 km of latitude. The aim is to provide a basis for conserving plant-mycorrhiza assemblages and for incorporating them into restoration initiatives.