Key Points
Martinez-Suzs research focuses on mycorrhizal fungia large group of fungi that coexist with plant root systems..
The mycorrhizal fungi form networks that can go around and sometimes inside plant roots, transferring nutrients and water to the plants in exchange for carbon..
Around 90 percent of plant species are known to make these symbiotic trade networks with different species of fungi..
The researchers who carried out the study think that it might be because the influx of new trees upset the delicate moorland mycorrhizal networks already present.. Replacing the complete set of fungi with other fungi has implications for long-term carbon sequestration in soil and biodiversity, says Martinez-Suz..
Mycologists think that nearly 90 percent of the worlds fungi species are still to be discovered, and the archivists at Kew are only halfway through the long process of digitizing their collection so that researchers can easily know where and when a species was found...
