Scientists made the first detailed global maps of mycorrhizal fungal networks by analyzing DNA from 25,000 soil samples worldwide, showing where these fungi that partner with most plants are most ...

Sweet herbal scents of spring waft through the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center as Elena Leander digs into a research plot, seeking to understand the unsung heroes of Texas’s iconic annual blooms.

Since time immemorial, plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi have coexisted in a mutually beneficial relationship. The fungi colonize plant roots and help them absorb nutrients. In return, plants ...

The foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada, Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the Columbia River Gorge in Washington and Oregon all have something in common: a sprawling underground microbial network.

If you’re walking outdoors, chances are something remarkable is happening under your feet. Vast fungal networks are silently working to keep ecosystems alive. These fungi aren’t what you might picture ...

This year’s recipient of the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement talks about “punk science,” microbial economics and thinking like a mycorrhizal fungus. Toby Kiers, an evolutionary biologist at ...