There’s a surprising climate solution right under your feet

illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on Grist or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: A groundbreaking new atlas released by the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) maps global biodiversity of mycorrhizal fungi—critical underground organisms that form symbiotic relationships with plants and help sequester billions of tons of CO₂ annually
• The atlas, based on DNA data from 130 countries, identifies fungi-rich hotspots and reveals that just 9.5% of them lie within protected areas, prompting calls for urgent conservation action

🔭 The context: Mycorrhizal fungi channel approximately 13 billion tons of CO₂ from plants into the soil every year—roughly one-third of global fossil fuel emissions
• Yet they remain largely invisible in climate strategies, despite their central role in carbon cycling, nutrient transfer, and ecosystem resilience
• The new atlas uses AI models to predict fungal diversity based on local environmental data and helps identify priority zones for research and protection

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Protecting these fungi is essential not just for carbon sequestration, but for maintaining soil health, preventing erosion, and sustaining plant biodiversity
• As climate change accelerates and land degradation intensifies, these symbiotic networks are at risk—particularly in unprotected regions like Brazil’s savannas and boreal forests
• Failing to safeguard them could compromise global climate mitigation and ecosystem stability

⏭️ What's next: SPUN’s atlas enables researchers to target high-diversity areas for field studies and conservation
• Scientists are now investigating whether existing biodiversity protection strategies can be adapted to include mycorrhizal fungi
• Given their sensitivity to climate shifts, conservationists may need to develop tailored policies that integrate underground biodiversity into global climate and land-use frameworks

💬 One quote: “There are all these other cascading benefits, beyond just how much carbon physically goes into the bodies of the fungi.” – Michael Van Nuland, Lead Data Scientist, SPUN

📈 One stat: Only 9.5% of global mycorrhizal fungi biodiversity hotspots are currently under formal protection

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