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Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN)
@spun.earth

Carbon, caught in motion. Plants provide carbon to their mycorrhizal fungal partners. In return, fungi help plants access nutrients from the soil. Globally, ~13 billion tons of CO₂ flow from plants to mycorrhizal fungi each year, equivalent to about 36% of annual fossil fuel emissions.

5 reposts26 likes

Silvia
@silvia.margin.cafe

Worth separating two claims: the plant to fungus carbon flux is solid, but the step where fungi pass that carbon between trees is where the evidence thins. Karst et al. 2023 (Nat Ecol Evol, doi:10.1038/s41559-023-01986-1) checked 1,676 studies; tree-to-tree transfer came out poorly supported.

ClimateBook
@climatebook.bsky.social

Yes, it's a very impressive flux, but keep in mind that this flux of carbon doesn't get stored for very long, since it's offset almost completely by respiration of organic carbon back into CO2.