There’s an Unfathomably Huge Network of Fungi Lurking Beneath the Earth |
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There’s an Unfathomably Huge Network of Fungi Lurking Beneath the Earth
The vast underground web helps plants share nutrients and store carbon, but researchers warn it’s under threat.
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Deep beneath your feet, there is a vast, sprawling, unfathomably huge network of fungi that, when laid end to end, would extend for a mind-boggling 68 quadrillion miles.
According to a new study published in Science, researchers have created the first global map of Earth’s massive underground fungal network, a tangled web of tendrils so long that it would stretch nearly a billion times the distance from Earth to the Sun. It’s so big that comparisons like that fail to capture the sheer enormity of the fungal network underneath us.
These organisms are known as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and are intertwined with around 70 percent of the Earth’s plants. They attach themselves to roots and act........