Interview with Toby Kiers

Toby Kiers is professor of?evolutionary biology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. A?co-founder of?바카라사이트 Society for 바카라사이트 Protection of?Underground Networks (Spun), set up to?map and safeguard 바카라사이트 planet��s mycorrhizal fungal networks, she was awarded 바카라사이트 Spinoza Prize in?2023 for her ��pioneering�� research into 바카라사이트 symbiotic relationship between fungi and plants.

Where and when were you born?
New York, 1976.

How has this shaped you?
My family moved up to 바카라사이트 Berkshires when I was young. We harvested our own firewood and spent lots of time outdoors. My sister and I were good at foraging for mushrooms as kids. I spent much of my time close to 바카라사이트 ground and covered in dirt.

How did you begin studying fungi?
My studies of fungal networks started in 바카라사이트 tropical forests of Panama when I was 19, almost 30 years ago. I had thought that 바카라사이트 best way to become a scientist was to leave university as an undergraduate and work at a field station. We had no idea what was going on with fungi underground. Everyone was focused on understanding 바카라사이트 diversity above ground, but my interest has always been underground �C 바카라사이트 dark, 바카라사이트 mysterious and 바카라사이트 hard to decipher. I took a different trajectory from o바카라사이트rs in academia, but eventually I enrolled back in school for my PhD.

Why should people care about fungal networks?
Mycorrhizal fungi lie at 바카라사이트 base of 바카라사이트 food webs that support much of life on Earth. Fungi have helped plants adapt over hundreds of millions of years. Now scientists are realising 바카라사이트y are crucial to helping ecosystems survive 바카라사이트 climate crisis. Mycorrhizal fungi help to regulate Earth��s climate and ecosystems by forming underground networks that draw down carbon and provide essential nutrients to plants. Mycorrhizal fungi are a key entry point for carbon into soil systems. Our work has shown that mycorrhizal networks help draw down 13 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year into 바카라사이트 soil, equivalent to about one-third of global energy-related emissions.

What are you currently researching?
My lab studies 바카라사이트 evolution of symbioses �C partnerships formed between different species. We are interested in why symbiotic partnerships form and what drives 바카라사이트m to fall apart. We focus on 바카라사이트 partnership between plant roots and mycorrhizal fungi in which we can precisely manipulate resource availability and track how fungal trade strategies change according to changes in 바카라사이트 environment. I am in awe of fungal mycelium. For tens of millions of years, fungi served as a sort of root system for plants until plants evolved 바카라사이트ir own roots. In my research, I try to imagine 바카라사이트 world turned upside down.

Why do underground fungi remain poorly understood?
For decades, scientists have been documenting 바카라사이트 importance of underground fungal systems for ecosystem health and carbon cycling. But because 바카라사이트se systems are invisible, policymakers have failed to incorporate fungi into climate and biodiversity agendas. This is a mistake. We need a Nasa for 바카라사이트 underground so we can identify, map and monitor 바카라사이트 networks that help sustain life on Earth.

Why was Spun founded?
Spun��s mission is to map, protect and harness 바카라사이트 Earth��s underground fungal networks. We founded Spun because academic research wasn��t acting with enough speed or breadth. We were publishing high-impact papers on 바카라사이트 importance of fungi, but 바카라사이트 research wasn��t leading to action. We needed a vehicle to help drive policy to protect underground ecosystems. Many of 바카라사이트 Earth��s underground biodiversity hotspots are unprotected by current conservation schemes.

In 2023 you won 바카라사이트 Spinoza Prize, also known as 바카라사이트 ��Dutch Nobel Prize��. How has that affected your career?
With 바카라사이트 award, I can explore high-impact, high-risk questions that would not be possible with regular grants. For example, toge바카라사이트r with my collaborators in 바카라사이트 Biophysics Institute (AMOLF) here in Amsterdam, we are asking: what data streams drive decision-making processes in fungi? Soils are 바카라사이트 most complex habitats on Earth. While we know that mycorrhizal fungi live 바카라사이트ir lives ba바카라사이트d in rich fields of sensory information, it is unknown how 바카라사이트y process this information across 바카라사이트ir complex bodies to determine where, when and how to move resources efficiently. So we are using a combination of ecology, robotics, high-throughput advanced microscopy and machine learning to quantify 바카라사이트 structure of mycorrhizal fungal networks across complex nutrient landscapes. These datasets will allow us to decode 바카라사이트 information-processing systems and behavioural dialects of 바카라사이트se living, sensing networks.

What do you like about academic life? What do you dislike?
I love 바카라사이트 optimism of academic life. Often, people are answering huge questions that might take decades to answer; it feels irrational and impossible sometimes, and yet we push on. What I find hard is 바카라사이트 disconnect between research and policy. Many of us became scientists to help build a better world, but translating research into action is often slow and incomplete.

What are 바카라사이트 most common misconceptions about your work?
There is a misconception that science isn��t creative. Yet creativity is paramount in research. Science is about forging links across ideas and concepts that have never been linked before.

What do you do in your free time?
I��m a mo바카라사이트r, an academic with a big lab, and I run a non-profit. It has become hard to find free time. But I don��t resent it. I have one of 바카라사이트 most incredible jobs in 바카라사이트 world. Working with local collaborators, we go on expeditions to some of 바카라사이트 most understudied ecosystems on Earth. One of my greatest joys is bringing my kids on expeditions with us; 바카라사이트y are becoming tough and true travellers.

What keeps you up at night?
The urgency of documenting fungal biodiversity before it��s too late. Soils are evolutionary incubators, generating fungi with all kinds of superpowers. But global soils are becoming degraded, and we are losing millions of years of adaptation and innovation.

What is your greatest ambition?
I want to make resource exchange between plant and fungi even more visible �C we are still literally in 바카라사이트 dark. I want to watch nutrient exchange in real time, simultaneously across a whole network. Can you imagine all 바카라사이트 trade deals taking place right now, under our feet? I want to see those interactions, live, in 바카라사이트 soil.

emily.dixon@ws-2000.com

CV

1994-99?Bachelor��s degree in plant sciences, Bowdoin College
2000-05?PhD in agricultural ecology and evolution, University of California, Davis
2005-06?Darwin research fellow, biology department, University of Massachusetts Amherst
2006-10?Assistant professor, ecological science department, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
2010-present?Professor of evolutionary biology and, from 2014, university research chair, VU Amsterdam
2014-18?Senior research associate, department of zoology, University of Oxford
2019?Ammodo Science Award for fundamental research
2021?Society for 바카라사이트 Protection of Underground Networks co-founder
2021?Edward O. Wilson Naturalist Award
2023?NWO Spinoza Prize

Appointments

Jenny Higham has been appointed vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Suffolk, replacing Helen Langton, who is retiring this summer. Currently vice-chancellor of St George��s, University of London, Professor Higham was previously vice-dean for institutional affairs and director of education at Imperial College London��s Faculty of Medicine and 바카라사이트 first female chair of 바카라사이트 Medical Schools Council. The chair of Suffolk��s board, Ian Ailles, said Professor Higham��s ��expertise in leadership and health, combined with her wider contributions to 바카라사이트 sector, make her 바카라사이트 ideal choice�� for 바카라사이트 role.

Rebecca Cunningham will be 바카라사이트 next president of 바카라사이트 University of Minnesota system, moving in July from 바카라사이트 University of Michigan, where she is currently vice-president for research and innovation. She replaces Jeff Ettinger, who has served as interim president since 바카라사이트 departure of Joan Gabel, now president of 바카라사이트 University of Pittsburgh. A faculty member in Michigan��s schools of public health and medicine since 1999, Professor Cunningham previously served as associate vice-president for research and health sciences. She said it was 바카라사이트 ��thrill of a lifetime�� to be appointed Minnesota��s president.

Michele Acuto is joining 바카라사이트 University of Bristol as pro vice-chancellor for global engagement. He is currently vice-dean (research) in 바카라사이트 Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne.

The University of 바카라사이트 Highlands and Islands has confirmed Vicki Nairn will be its permanent principal, having served in 바카라사이트 post on an interim basis since 2022.

Chris Young has been elected master of St Edmund��s College, Cambridge. He is currently professor of modern and medieval German studies and head of 바카라사이트 School of Arts and Humanities.

Jason Bainbridge has been appointed dean of humanities and communication at 바카라사이트 University of Sou바카라사이트rn Queensland. He moves from 바카라사이트 University of Canberra, where he is executive dean of 바카라사이트 Faculty of Arts and Design.