All Toby Kiers articles
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NewsGlobal map of mycorrhizal fungi reveals true scale of underground networks
Researchers have produced the first global maps visualising the distribution and mass of the Earth’s arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks, revealing the true scale of this underground fungal infrastructure.
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NewsProtected areas that help wildlife often do little for the soil fungi that plants depend on
Scientists built the most comprehensive models ever of the ranges of 2,858 important fungal species and compared them with the world’s protected landscapes. More than half of these critical underground organisms are less protected than if conservation areas had been drawn at random.
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NewsData from Earth’s most remote atoll show soil fungi are key to island regeneration
Palmyra Atoll, a remote, uninhabited speck of land, coral and sea halfway between Hawaiʻi and American Samoa, is one of the healthiest, intact atolls on the planet—so ecologically sensitive that visiting researchers freeze their clothes at night to kill invasive species. Source: NASA NLT Landsat 7 (Visible Color) ...
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NewsUnderground fungal map of the world’s oldest, slowest-growing rainforest trees can boost the resilience of Earth’s long-term carbon sinks
Protecting and conserving old trees will protect hundreds, if not thousands, of mycorrhizal and other fungal species that inhabit soils around these giants, each of which play a role we might not fully understand in keeping these forests healthy and resilient.
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![[EMBARGOED UNTIL 14JAN2026] TOBY KIERS (Credit TOMAS MUNITA) D8A8895](https://d3rmrttq0bsnxi.cloudfront.net/Pictures/100x67/1/8/3/17183_embargoeduntil14jan2026tobykierscredittomasmunitad8a8895_785480_crop.jpg)
NewsBiologist Dr. Toby Kiers wins Tyler Prize, calls fungi key to restoring degraded land and an untapped ally for the earth
Evolutionary biologist Dr. Toby Kiers, a world-renowned expert on mycorrhizal networks, is being awarded the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement for her “transformative” work, the Tyler Prize Executive Committee announced today.
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NewsScientists build robot to track plant-fungal trade networks, revealing nature’s underground supply chains
New research uses advanced robotics to track the hyper-efficient supply chains formed between plants and mycorrhizal fungi as they trade carbon and nutrients across the complex, living networks that help regulate the Earth’s atmosphere and ecosystems.
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NewsEarth’s fungal networks could be essential to reaching net zero
Fungi stores a third of carbon from fossil fuel emissions and could be essential to reaching net zero, a new study reveals.
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NewsSPUN receives $3 million grant to map and protect carbon sequestering fungi
The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), a scientific initiative dedicated to mapping and conserving mycorrhizal networks that underlie all terrestrial ecosystems, has received a $3 million general operating grant from the Schmidt Family Foundation.