Earth's underground fungal network is so massive, it would span 10% of the Milky Way, map reveals
Researchers estimate the fungi store 300 megatons of carbon and help move about 4 billion tonnes into soils each year.
- On Thursday, June 11, 2026, researchers published a study in the journal Science revealing the first global map of underground arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks stretching 110 quadrillion kilometers through Earth's topsoil.
- These symbiotic fungi are critical for planetary health, shuttling around 4 billion metric tons of carbon annually—equal to 11% of human emissions—while supporting trade relationships with roughly 70% of plant species.
- While wild grasslands—including the Florida Everglades—contain around 40% of global fungal biomass, cultivated croplands show roughly 50% lower densities, likely due to fertilizers, fungicides, and tilling practices.
- Evolutionary ecologist Justin Stewart and colleagues argue these maps are 'urgently needed' to inform biodiversity conservation and agricultural management, helping policymakers identify where fungi thrive and require protection.
- Researchers created supplemental 'maps of ignorance' to guide future efforts, with plans to update the database within five years to address challenges from food security to climate change.
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Scientists Set Out to Map Underground Fungal Networks, Find They Cover 62 Quadrillion Miles
Some years ago, scientists dedicated to including the kingdom Fungi into modern conservation set out to measure the total length of fungal networks under the soil. These networks form the fabled “wood wide web,” an interconnected, biological framework of cooperation between plants, fungi, and probably microorganisms. Their research, published last July, found that just within […] The post Scientists Set Out to Map Underground Fungal Networks, Fi…
One study reveals an immense network of fungi hidden beneath the Earth that reaches 110,000 billion kilometers. Its size is equivalent to 10% of the Milky Way and could be key to the global climate.
The first global mapping of mycorrhizal arbuscular fungi reveals the magnitude of the hyphae systems that support plant lifeMushroom networks: this is how the underground internet of plants works According to a new and revolutionary study, the soils of our planet contain enough underground fungi—which support plant life and help regulate the climate—so that their extension would reach the distance between Earth and the Sun almost 750 million tim…
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