The arbuscular mycorrhizal network is literally cool

I knew mitochondrial networks were interesting, but this is next level.

Using machine learning models, [scientists have] estimated that worldwide, the arbuscular mycorrhizal network stretches for 110 quadrillion kilometers, almost a billion times the distance from Earth to the sun. (Scoop up just a teaspoon of soil and you might find 10 meters of fungal strands.) Every year, these fungi shuttle around 4 billion metric tons of carbon, equal to 11 percent of humanity’s CO2 emissions.

Because scientists have already taken thousands upon thousands of samples around the world, the researchers could train the models to build maps… that predict where these fungi are more or less concentrated, even in the most remote environments. “We have started to have a clear picture of the full extent of these hidden living infrastructures that circulate carbon and nutrients in the soils beneath our feet,” said Toby Kiers, executive director of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks and coauthor of the new paper, which published today in the journal Science.

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Source: grist.org
Are.na block: ↗
Collection: finds-au723pdfugg