Michigan Study Finds 689 Fungal Species 500 Meters Underground, Including 13 New to Science
Updated
Updated · LBV Magazine · Aug 5
Michigan Study Finds 689 Fungal Species 500 Meters Underground, Including 13 New to Science
3 articles · Updated · LBV Magazine · Aug 5
Summary
Water samples from Michigan’s Antrim Shale yielded 689 fungal species at depths of 198 to 500 meters, giving researchers the first direct count of abundant deep-subsurface fungi.
A single drop of groundwater held about 250 fungal cells—roughly comparable to ocean water—challenging the view that complex eukaryotic life is scarce or dormant deep underground.
Stable-isotope analysis suggests much of the water entered the shale as glacial meltwater about 11,000 years ago, while methane and carbon-dioxide data indicate the rock itself supports the underground food web.
The team also found tardigrades and small worms, and cultivated more than 200 fungal types into the first public collection of deep-subsurface fungi at the University of Michigan Herbarium.
Researchers said the findings could force revisions to estimates of global fungal biomass and to carbon-cycle models, because fungi may help convert supposedly locked-up subsurface carbon into gas.