Hidden fungi living inside roots may be the keystone species holding forests together

A forest looks like a story about trees, but underground it is a story about fungi — and a new DNA analysis from forests in Nagano, Japan, suggests the most important characters were the ones nobody was watching. Comparing root and soil samples, and checking their findings against a large European forest dataset, researchers found that endophytes — fungi that live quietly inside plant tissue — disproportionately shape which other microbes gather around roots. In ecology, a keystone species is one whose influence far outweighs its numbers; these hidden fungi appear to play that role for the whole root microbiome. The study, published in Nature Communications, also offers a general method for finding keystone microbes in any complex ecosystem — a tool for managing forests as whole living systems, microbes included, rather than as timber with scenery.

SDG 15 · Life on land