What they learn could help save these crucial networks elsewhere in the planet as climate change threatens them.
Society for the Protection of Underground Networks scientist Bethan Manley surveys the expanse in an area of Kazakh feathergrass steppe. ASTANA, Kazakhstan — A team of scientists loaded into a gray minivan in this capital city earlier this year and drove for hundreds of miles west through the Kazakh steppe — a vast region marked by endless open plains of grass, abandoned farms and flower-filled meadows.
The team identified these areas using a predictive map based on thousands of observations and environmental data. In it, the Kazakh steppe stood out because of its wide-ranging diversity of ecosystems. Understanding which mycorrhizal fungi survive in the harsh temperatures there may help scientists determine how these fungal communities might adapt to the climate crisis as droughts, fires and desertification become more prevalent.
in June found. About 13 gigatons of carbon fixed by vegetation — equivalent to about one-third of all carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels in one year — flows through underground fungi, according to an analysis of nearly 200 data sets. For hundreds of years, the steppe was a region of nomadic herders. In the 1950s, under Soviet rule, the government mobilized thousands of young volunteers to produce as much grain as possible in order to alleviate food shortages, an initiative known as the virgin lands campaign.The fields were extensively plowed, which degraded the soil, and were later abandoned because they were not productive.
Here the ecosystem is marked by islands of trees among vast expanses of grasslands. The scientists suspect mycorrhizal fungi are faring much better in these conditions.Knowing what species of fungi live here is key to understanding how to protect them, said Bethan Manley, project officer at SPUN who was on the expedition. It will help determine “where we might be able to have the most effective measures of not poisoning them with fungicides or not having harmful farming practices,” she said.
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