Hundreds of fungi species threatened with extinction, global conservation body says

Deforestation, farming and climate-fueled fires are driving increasing threats to fungi, the lifeblood of most plants on Earth, the International Union for Conservation of Nature warns.

At least 411 fungi face extinction out of the 1,300 varieties whose conservation status is well understood, according to the latest update of the IUCN’s authoritative “Red List of Threatened Species.”

“Fungi are the unsung heroes of life on Earth, forming the very foundation of healthy ecosystems, yet they have long been overlooked,” says IUCN director general Grethel Aguilar. “Now it’s time to turn this knowledge into action and safeguard the extraordinary fungal kingdom, whose vast underground networks sustain nature and life as we know it.”

This assessment, by the global authority on the status of the natural world, concerns only a fraction of the approximately 150,000 fungal species recorded to date, out of an estimated 2.5 million on Earth. But it illustrates the strains that human activity places on this distinct individual kingdom, which is neither plant nor animal.

“While fungi mainly live hidden underground and inside wood, their loss impacts the life above ground that depends on them,” says Professor Anders Dahlberg, who coordinated this latest assessment.