There is a trillion km network of mushrooms underground, and science wants to map it

It may not seem like it, but mushrooms are essential to life. In fact, under our feet there is a network in which mushrooms use carbon to form “Feeder highways“It is common for trillions of miles of underground fungal networks to be found all over the Earth…and we know very little about them.

Precisely for this reason, the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) intends to collect new information on this underground network, in order to better understand the innate ability of this network to Carbon dioxide absorption and storage.

The first samples of this amazing “fungal web” will be collected in Patagonia for about 18 months over the next year. Then, using machine learning, a network map will be generated. This is an important effort, because according to current estimates This “network” stores about 5.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide This number may be three times greater.

These maps may be available Helping scientists protect these ecosystems Agricultural growth, use of fertilizers and pesticides, deforestation and urbanization are threatened. “If we lose this system, it will have very serious consequences for our ability to combat climate changeSays Toby Kerrs, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at VU University in Amsterdam. By the way, did you know that there are mushrooms that taste like chicken or lobster?