Key Points
- Mycorrhizal fungi form vast underground networks connecting plant roots.
- These fungal networks help trees share nutrients and stress signals.
- Climate change is disrupting soil moisture and fungal health.
- Loss of fungi weakens forests and carbon storage capacity.
- Fungal biodiversity is rapidly declining under global warming.
- Underground ecosystems remain underrepresented in climate policy.
Climate change is quietly unravelling one of Earth’s most vital and hidden ecosystems.
Far beneath our feet, a web of microscopic fungal threads connects trees, grasses, and shrubs in an ancient underground network of life.
This system, known as the “Wood Wide Web”, facilitates communication, nutrient sharing, and survival across entire plant communities.
But as heatwaves intensify and soil dries out, climate change is beginning to sever these fungal lifelines.
And few people are aware it’s even happening.
What Is the Wood Wide Web?
Mycorrhizal fungi form symbiotic partnerships with over 90% of plant species by attaching to their roots and extending threadlike filaments called hyphae into the soil.
In exchange for sugars from the plant, the fungi provide water, phosphorus, nitrogen, and essential micronutrients.
These filaments also connect neighbouring plants, enabling trees to transfer nutrients to seedlings, warn each other of insect attacks, and stabilize the forest community through cooperation rather than competition1.
This interconnected web has sustained ecosystems for hundreds of millions of years.
Climate Stress Underground
Recent studies show that fungal networks are increasingly vulnerable to shifts in temperature and rainfall.
As soil warms and dries, many mycorrhizal species decline in abundance or disappear entirely2.
Droughts disrupt fungal life cycles, reduce biomass, and impair the fungi’s ability to colonise plant roots.
This weakens the flow of nutrients and communication between plants, diminishing ecosystem resilience.
Carbon Loss and Ecological Breakdown
These underground fungi also play a key role in stabilising the climate by storing carbon in the soil.
When fungal networks collapse, less carbon is sequestered, and more is released into the atmosphere3.
This feedback loop accelerates warming and further harms the networks that once protected us.
Forests without healthy fungal partners are less able to withstand disease, pests, or climate stress.
Extinction Below the Surface
A 2022 study in Nature predicted that up to 27% of mycorrhizal species could face local extinction by 2070 due to climate change4.
The tropics, boreal forests, and alpine zones are among the most vulnerable.
Loss of fungal biodiversity undermines forest regeneration, reduces crop productivity, and may contribute to ecosystem collapse in poorly studied regions.
New Efforts to Protect the Invisible
While climate policy has long focused on forests and oceans, underground ecosystems have been largely ignored.
That is beginning to change.
The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) is now mapping global fungal biodiversity and identifying conservation hotspots5.
Soil-sensitive agriculture, reforestation with native species, and protecting intact wilderness areas can all help preserve fungal systems.
But time is short, and public awareness remains low.
“We’re on the edge of losing something we barely understand,” said Dr. Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled Life.
“The forest doesn’t end at the ground — and neither should our imagination.”
Footnotes
- Simard, S. et al. (2021). Trees communicate and share resources via mycorrhizal networks. Nature. Link
- Treseder, K. et al. (2016). Drought reduces fungal abundance and function. Ecology Letters. Link
- Averill, C. et al. (2014). Mycorrhizae drive soil carbon storage. Nature Communications. Link
- Steidinger, B. et al. (2022). Climate change threatens fungal biodiversity. Nature. Link
- Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN). (2023). Global fungal biodiversity mapping project. Link
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