Toby Kiers

Scientist wins €215,000 award for work on carbon-sucking fungi Dr Toby Kiers has won the 2026 Tyler Prize award after shedding light on “overlooked” fungi that can offset huge amounts of CO2.

Good news, recognition for #plant #Science

www.euronews.com/green/2026/0...

SPUN and NYU Law’s More-than-Human Life (MOTH) Program have partnered on a new initiative to support SPUN’s Underground Explorers grantees in advocating for mycorrhizal fungal communities across Earth's ecosystems.

🔗 Find out more about the Underground Advocates Program: buff.ly/KhbJmvS

We need to make #worldsoilday more about the soils of THE WHOLE WORLD.

Across African datasets, there are fewer than 5 mycorrhizal samples per 1 million square kilometers, making the continent 48 times less sampled than Europe.

Today, we celebrate SPUN’s 38 Underground Explorers across Africa 🧵

Ecuador freezes bank accounts of Indigenous leaders, land defenders Since September 2025, dozens of Indigenous leaders and organizations, land rights activists and nonprofits in Ecuador have reportedly been unable to access their funds, after a state institution…

Amid social protests and rising tensions in Ecuador, dozens of bank accounts that belong to Indigenous leaders and organizations, land rights activists and nonprofits have been reportedly frozen for weeks, by order of the state.

Sources told Mongabay their accounts froze suddenly without warning.

With Merlin Sheldrake, @tobykiers.bsky.social, @hhwalter.bsky.social, & Fungi Foundation’s Giuliana Furci, we’re mapping deep soil fungi in the high-altitude grasslands of Peru. Special thanks to Cosmo Sheldrake, elders from the Q'ero and Ccorca communities and Miski Tours.

📸 Tomás Munita

Such an honor to work with you. Huge congrats on this massive recognition.

congrats to @vkokkoris.bsky.social for his stellar fungal research, and to all the other Early Career Award researchers. Wonderful to see this group of incredible researchers

👏 Twaalf jonge onderzoekers zijn door de KNAW onderscheiden met een 𝗞𝗡𝗔𝗪 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱. Met deze prijs erkent de KNAW hun wetenschappelijke talent maar ook hun rol als bijv. docent.
Benieuwd naar hun onderzoek? Kijk dan hier: www.knaw.nl/nl/nieuws/di...

Recently, we mapped endemic fungal networks in Zagori 🇬🇷 with @seanmaston.bsky.social, @vkokkoris.bsky.social and team.

Vikos Gorge is a hotspot for endangered species, with underground systems supported by rock formations ~160 million yrs old.

We're now returning to cover more ground.

Thanks Virginia for the kind message - we have those data back now from Palmyra and they are super interesting! email me...

Thanks for the wonderful message Katie. Its totally surreal.

MacArthur Foundation Announces 2025 ‘Genius Grant’ Winners

This week, I was awarded a MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant. So proud to be included among individuals recognized for “extraordinary originality & dedication in their creative pursuits”. This research has been possible because I collaborate with the most incredible teams.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/a...

Congrats to Executive Director @tobykiers.bsky.social on being named a 2025 #MacFellow by the MacArthur Foundation (buff.ly/HOU1qb7). Also called the “Genius Grant,” it’s one of the largest awards in the US, honoring exceptionally talented and creative individuals.

Shout out to fellow awardees! 👏

Still in shock!

So excited to be representing @spun.earth at the #IUCNCongress! 🌍✨ I’m eager to connect with you and explore how we can integrate mycorrhizal fungi into your conservation strategies. Schedule a time to meet up: www.spun.earth/events/iucn-...

Mycorrhizal allies: synergizing forest carbon and multifunctional restoration While forest degradation persists across many regions, restoration efforts have predominantly targeted aboveground carbon, often overlooking critical belowground ecosystem functions. Plant–mycorrhizal...

Mycorrhizal allies: synergizing forest carbon and multifunctional restoration

@cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social by Tengteng Li (李腾腾), Richard Phillips, @mrillig.bsky.social, @gangst.bsky.social, @tobykiers.bsky.social, Paola Bonfante, Nico Eisenhauer & Zhanfeng Liu (刘占锋)

www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

How plants and fungi trade resources without a brain Fungi and plants have something to teach humans about global trade and cooperation

Beatiful article @tobykiers.bsky.social !
Source: NPR
search.app/tP7Ep

Oh wow. Thanks for sharing Evelina.

Fungal networks have remained in the dark, despite the extraordinary ways they sustain life on land and they need urgent protection.

Read the article by Taro Kaneko in the @theguardian.com here: www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

The problem of “dark taxa” in ectomycorrhizal fungal conservation and research — Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative Laura van Galen, ETH Zürich (Switzerland) & SPUN (Society for the Protection of Underground Networks)

📣 GSBI's latest blog has just been published 🎉

In this blog, Dr. Laura Van Galen discusses the mystery of dark taxa in ectomycorrhizal fungi 🍄

Read it here 👇

www.globalsoilbiodiversity.org/blog-beneath...

Earth’s Underground Fungi Networks Need Urgent Protection: Study - EcoWatch The underground fungi networks that help sustain Earth’s ecosystems are in need of urgent conservation action, according to SPUN.

“For centuries, we’ve mapped mountains, forests, and oceans. But these fungi have remained in the dark, despite the extraordinary ways they sustain life on land.” @tobykiers.bsky.social , @spun.earth

Most of Earth’s critical underground fungus is unprotected First global map of mushrooms that form beneficial relationships with plant roots reveals 90% live outside of conservation areas

SPUN is featured in @science.org in a piece written by @humbertobasilio.bsky.social. Learn where some of the most unique fungal communities exist, such as West Africa’s Guinean forests, Tasmania’s temperate rainforests, and Brazil’s Cerrado savanna.

Read here: www.science.org/content/arti...

Who lives underground?

Find out now in our new paper published in @nature.com.

Key finding: 90% of predicted mycorrhizal biodiversity hotspots lie outside protected areas.

Read here: buff.ly/WmDqAP3 🧵

We know most animals don’t cross the Wallace Line. Not even those with wings.

But what about fungi?

Underground Explorer Helbert Lim is studying the influence of the Wallace on fungal dispersal, with the potential of recording new species.

Crop yields are not greater outside centers of origin Scientists have long posited that crops achieve higher yields outside their centers of origin by escaping pests and pathogens. However, this assumptio…

🌾 New PhD chapter OneEarth @cp-oneearth.bsky.social

For decades, crops were thought to yield better outside their centers of origin by escaping native pests and diseases.

Using AI and remote sensing, we found no yield advantages for crops outside origins.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Searching for Hidden Fungi in the Sonoran Desert - Inside Climate News Mycorrhizal fungi are vital to ecosystems around the world, but remain largely understudied, especially in arid regions. They may prove critical to the survival of fragile deserts stressed by climate ...

The saguaro cactus is an icon of the American West.

But little is known about a key factor to their long lives and resiliency hidden under the ground: mycorrhizal fungi.

Researchers with @spun.earth are trying to change that.

My latest:
insideclimatenews.org/news/2206202...

congrats on such a beautiful piece of work

🧪🧬Should we reignite genetic manipulation attempts on #arbuscular #mycorrhizal #fungi? Our review in @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social suggests the time is ripe.

With: Midge Woodward @paszkowskilab.bsky.social @alexdallaire.bsky.social

Open access🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...

#scicomm

Is genetic manipulation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi possible? Unlike many fungi, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi have proven recalcitrant to genetic manipulation due to their obligate biotrophic lifestyle and multinucleate, coenocytic cellular structure. In th...

Is genetic manipulation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi possible?

@cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social review from @vkokkoris.bsky.social

www.cell.com/trends/micro...

Dark taxa: why scientists are desperate to know more about this secret network of underground life | Discover Wildlife Huge numbers of subterranean fungi remain unknown to science, posing problems for conservation around the world, say researchers.

Find out why SPUN scientists @camilletruong.bsky.social and @laura-vangalen.bsky.social are desperate to know more about dark taxa in this new article by Daniel Graham, featured on BBC Magazine's Discover Wildlife: www.discoverwildlife.com/environment/...