Beneath our feet lie some of the largest living organisms on Earth. Fungi are mostly invisible and largely overlooked, but they help sustain the ecosystems and food systems that we depend on every day.
In a new global study, colleagues and I have mapped Earth’s vast underground networks of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi are invisible to the naked eye and form partnerships with the roots of most land plants. Their hyphae – fungal thread-like filaments – explore soil that roots cannot reach. This helps plants acquire water and nutrients in exchange for carbon fixed by the plants through photosynthesis.
