Cambridge funds revolutionary underground work

The investment will support Cumbria Connect’s attempt to provide one of the most comprehensive studies of how upland landscapes respond to ecological improvement, not only above but also below ground.

Central to the study will be the objective of improving understanding of the contribution of mycorrhizal fungi – soil-based fungi that exist in a symbiotic relationship with tree and plant roots.

These provide an extension to root systems which increase access to water and nutrients. Plants in turn supply the fungi with carbon and sugars derived from photosynthesis.

While this role is well documented, the Cumbria Connect researchers will focus instead on the mycorrhizal contribution to effective restoration of previously grazed upland areas at scale.

In England, authorities have committed to developing more than a quarter of a million hectares of new woodland, avoiding where possible high-grade farmland and vulnerable peat soils in favour of areas such as grazed uplands.

Lead conservation scientist for Cumbria Connect Dr Mo Verhoeven, who is leading the work in partnership with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) and the RSPB, said:

“We know mycorrhizal fungi act as an underground support network for trees, but we still don’t know when missing fungal communities become the factor that limits restoration success in upland landscapes.  

“This project allows us to test that directly and to understand how below-ground recovery reacts with changes in grazing management and tree planting.”

The money comes from the Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI), the 11-partner biodiversity body formed around the University of Cambridge and billed as one of the largest groups of conservation researchers and practitioners worldwide,

CCI, whose members include the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Fauna & Flora, and the Wildlife Conservation Society, will provide the financial aid via one of its targeted funding projects, the Landscapes & Seascapes Programme.

Wild Haweswater, a landscape restoration partnership between the RSPB and landowner United Utilities and surrounding upland landscapes, will be the location for the work.

The neighbouring Naddle Forest, one of the UK’s last remaining fragments of temperate rainforest and recently identified as home to two locally rare lichen species, will provide a reference point for sustained ecological recovery. 

The researchers will investigate whether soils rich in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with grasses and herbs and common in grazed landscapes shifts in balance towards ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with trees during the restoration process. 

It will also look at whether targeted support impacts the shift and whether locally sourced soil inoculation, using mycorrhizal communities from temperate rainforest, improves the survival and growth of native trees.  

Lead computational biologist at SPUN, Bethan Manley, said: “Findings from the research could feed into a practical toolkit for considering mycorrhizal fungi in restoration projects, offering new evidence for land managers, restoration partnerships and policymakers across the UK and beyond.  The aim is to improve confidence in woodland creation, reduce uncertainty and support more effective investment in nature recovery by working with natural processes.”

Pic: Fungi (Jim Holden, Royal Botanical Gardens Kew Fungarium)