#soil

💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: 🍄🌍 Scientists mapped arbuscular #mycorrhizal #fungi – the #underground fungal threads that connect #plant roots. Analyzing over 16,000 #soil cores from 322 studies, they found the network stretches 110 quadrillion(!) km in the topsoil, long enough to reach the #Sun nearly a billion times. #Grasslands and #prairies hold the densest networks, while #farming reduces fungal density by nearly half. 👉 https://www.sciencealert.com/hidden-web-of-fungus-inside-earth-could-reach-the-sun-a-billion-times #science #ecology #plants #carbon #map #nature #biology #climate #microscopy #research #study

Warming unlocks ancient carbon in Tibetan permafrost, triggering climate tipping point The results revealed a clear and troubling pattern across all warming levels. Even under low to moderate warming, #carbon losses through respiration outpaced photosynthetic carbon gains by 1–16-fold. Warming by +1°C, +2°C, and +4°C increased annual net #CO2 release by 44%, 80%, and 176%, respectively, and the site was a net carbon source before any experimental warming began. "When warming reaches around 2–4°C, the system changes fundamentally," Ding told Phys.org. "Plants begin to reach their thermal and water-stress limits, so photosynthesis declines. At the same time, thaw penetrates deeper into the #soil, exposing old #permafrost carbon that has been frozen and protected for hundreds to thousands of years. Once thawed, microbes can decompose it and release it as CO2." https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ancient-carbon-tibetan-permafrost-triggering.html #TippingPoint #Tibet #Himalaya #Uhhps

Do please join me on World Soil Day, 5 December, 2pm GMT, for the global launch of the most exciting thing I’ve ever been involved with: The Earth Rover Program, developing a new scientific approach which will massively enhance our understanding of #soil. Register: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi... Welcome! You are invited to jo...