Soil fungal biodiversity and function: What we do and do not know and why it matters in a changing world

Hawksworth (1991) estimated fungal species to be 1.62M globally, whereas only 69K were described! With application of molecular tools to fungal diversity this estimate is in question as we learned: 1) There are higher groups of fungi (phylum/class) with no direct observational evidence required for species description 2) Samples hold thousands of species-level “OTUs” with no known match. Given known effects of fungi on plants (good and bad) we must close this gap. The urgency becomes clear when consider the need to feed a growing world population with depleting resources. The study of these fungi is increasing, but fast enough?