Fungi Win Long-Delayed Scientific, Conservation Focus
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- Agarikon (quinine conk), one of only two U.S.-endangered fungi species, has declined 70% over the past century with the Pacific Northwest as its last stronghold; samples are now stored at a San Diego Zoo biobank for potential reintroduction.
- Of an estimated 2.2 million to 12 million fungi species worldwide, only about 155,000 have been identified, leaving the vast bulk of the fungal kingdom undescribed despite fungi's indispensable role in roughly 80% of terrestrial plant life.
- Toby Kiers (Vrije University Amsterdam) and Giuliana Furci (Fungi Foundation) both received MacArthur 'genius grants' in 2025, and Kiers also won the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement; Kiers told the New York Times the awards felt like 'an award for the invisible.'
- A Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) study found that only 10% of the world's mycorrhizal biodiversity hotspots fall within protected areas, and Kiers's team estimates mycorrhiza sequester roughly 13 billion tons of CO₂ in soil annually — about a third of global fossil fuel emissions.
- The California Fungal Diversity Survey has cataloged more than 10,000 species since 2022, including over 2,000 new to science, while the Kew Gardens Fungarium in London is re-examining its 1.25 million specimens with new genomic tools.
- At the 2024 COP16 Biodiversity Conference, Chile and the U.K. introduced an initiative to formally elevate fungi to 'Kingdom of Funga' status alongside flora and fauna, a move advocates say would unlock research funding and policy protections.
- Research on Suillus mycorrhiza found the fungi can distinguish toxic metals from nutrients in soil, selectively feeding trees the nutrients while blocking contaminants — evidence that different fungal species perform distinct, non-interchangeable ecological roles.
Why it matters: With Agarikon down 70% in a century, only 10% of mycorrhizal hotspots in protected areas, and roughly 95% of fungal species still undescribed, the networks supporting 80% of terrestrial plants are degrading almost entirely off the conservation map. Elevating fungi to 'Kingdom of Funga' status would compel policymakers and funders to account for the organisms estimated to sequester 13 billion tons of CO₂ annually.
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