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Society For The Protection Of Underground Networks
The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) is a science-based initiative to map and protect the mycorrhizal networks that regulate the Earth's climate and ecosystems. The organization was founded in 2021. The Executive Director is Toby Kiers, an evolutionary biologist at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The stated goals of The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) are mapping, protecting, and harnessing mycorrhizal fungi. SPUN is activating mycologists around the world, working with local collaborators to obtain core soil samples from all types of ecosystems. The goal is to survey, locate, and identify the diverse domains of mycelia and create a fungal atlas, a biological reference guide to ensure their protection and continuity. Research The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks samples soil and extracts and sequences fungal DNA in order to learn which fungi are present. The geo-located fungal taxa are then fed into a mac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toby Kiers
Toby Kiers is an American evolutionary biologist who is a University Research Chair and professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Kiers pioneered an economic interpretation of the interactions and exchanges between plants, fungi and microbes in Mycorrhizal network, mycorrhizal networks. She co-founded the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN). Kiers is a 2023 Spinoza Prize, Spinoza laureate. Early life and education Kiers attended The Mountain School in Vermont for her fall 1992 high school semester. Kiers received her B.A. in 1999 from Bowdoin College. In 1997, she spent time as a student at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and gave a talk. She did her Ph.D. at University of California, Davis, UC Davis, completing a thesis entitled ''Evolution of cooperation in the legume-rhizobium symbiosis'' in 2005 supervised by Robert Ford Denison. Career and research Kiers did research in Panama and Japan after her degree before being appointed professo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
