Abstract
Among the fundamental actors in our ecosystems that are missing in ecological design and landscape architecture are mycorrhizal fungi. Their mycelia support plant growth and health and can facilitate the transfer of water, nutrients and signals between plants. Some researchers are suggesting that these entire soil-based interaction structures may also allow trees to connect underground and help foster healthy plant communities. Bridging science and design, we explore how mycorrhizal fungi in urban environments have been investigated in research and in practice in order to speculate about the role they will play in our cities in the future. Although efforts have been made in many cities to incorporate green infrastructure and sustainable design into the fabric of the city, there is still a great need for more work of this kind. Urban infrastructure has overtaken most available space, replacing what once was natural with industrial-grade construction material. How would we need to adapt design to support the health of fungal communities in the urban soil? After a thorough analysis, we conclude by suggesting novel approaches such as connecting street trees through the redesign of underground urban infrastructure. Mycorrhizal connectivity within the context of the built environment needs more exploration to ensure the health of our urban soil biota and plants.
Restoration Recap
Mycorrhizal fungal networks support nutrient and water uptake, link plants, and enable resource exchange, yet their roles in urban environments remain underexplored.
Urban soil restoration should consider fungal communities as critical for ecological resilience. Designing urban plantings with mycorrhizal connectivity as a consideration could improve soil quality, plant health and biodiversity.
Incorporating fungal connectivity into the design of urban infrastructure—such as a soil conduit linking trees—could enhance nutrient exchange through fungal networks, fostering a healthier urban forest.
More interdisciplinary research is needed to demonstrate that incorporating mycorrhizal networks into urban planning will enhance and support both fungal and plant communities.
Mycorrhizal associations between plants and fungi benefit plants by enhancing their ability to mediate interactions with other soil microbes, access and transfer nutrients and water, and send phytochemical signals (Tedersoo et al. 2020). The mycelia emerging from these associations may allow trees to connect underground and help foster healthy plant communities (Nara 2015). While the relevance of Common Mycorrhizal Networks (CMNs) has been questioned (Karst et al. 2023), other studies show evidence of their benefits in natural and managed ecosystems. These benefits include carbon transfer via CMNs (Klein et al. 2023) and the positive effects of CMNs on plant growth, survival, and community structure (Ullah et al. 2024). The symbiosis, however, is not one-directional; to survive, mycorrhizal fungi (many of which are biotrophs) depend on photosynthetically derived sugars and lipids transferred from plant roots in exchange for nutrient mobilization, soil aggregation, and belowground carbon storage (Mortier et al. 2020). Although the role of fungal networks in forest and grassland ecosystems is being widely investigated, their role in urban systems, their potential benefits to urban ecosystems, and how they may be affected by urbanization remains to be explored (Authier et al. 2022).
In this review, we will focus on ectomycorrhizal (ECM) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) associations because of their wide distribution and relationship with most temperate tree species, as well as smaller woody plants located in urban areas. Morphologically, ECM fungi typically form a dense sheath around the fine root tips and a Hartig net (a network of fungal hyphae) between the epidermal and cortical cells (Peterson et al. 2004, Smith and Read 2008), whereas AM fungi penetrate the root cortical cells and produce intracellular arbuscules and vesicles without forming an external mantle (Brundrett and Tedersoo 2018). ECM associations have particularly important effects on the absorption of nitrogen compounds (Tedersoo et al. 2020), whereas AM associations dominate in systems where phosphorus uptake and rapid colonization are critical (Phillips et al. 2013, van der Heijden et al. 2015). Two other mycorrhizal associations important in specialized and limited circumstances are ericoid mycorrhizal fungi, which form symbiotic relationships with plants in acidic, nutrient poor and highly polluted soils (Perotto et al. 2002), and arbutoid mycorrhizal fungi, which associate with ericaceous plants and play a crucial role in nutrient exchange (Kühdorf et al. 2016). In this review we have placed less emphasis on these two associations because ericoid and arbutoid mycorrhizal fungi occur primarily in ericaceous plant families and are therefore much less common in typical urban tree plantings and managed greenspaces (Cairney and Meharg 2003, Smith and Read 2008). For this reason, this review focuses on mycorrhizal guilds most relevant to urban connectivity and green-infrastructure design.
To compile the literature for this review, we conducted searches in Google Scholar using combined keywords such as “common mycorrhizal networks,” “urban soils,” “soil restoration,” “urban tree health,” and “mycorrhizal connectivity.” We focused our search on English-language, peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2025, with the inclusion of seminal earlier studies where relevant. We included studies that addressed the role of mycorrhizal networks within urban ecology. Once we identified articles, we screened titles and abstracts for relevance to the review’s focus on mycorrhizal networks in urban landscapes. We reviewed full texts of selected studies to extract information on context, methods, and key findings. We then categorized the studies by themes such as urban trees, soil connectivity, and restoration to identify patterns and knowledge gaps. We also examined the reference lists of key articles to identify additional sources.
In this paper, we first review the current understanding of mycorrhizal associations and mycorrhizal networks in urban environments and their roles in promoting tree health. We then propose potential ecological design approaches that could be applied to urban planning and landscape architecture.
Mycorrhizal Fungi in Urban Environments
The soil microbial community plays a vital role in various functions that contribute to the soil ecosystem and can be unique to each tree species (Rosier 2021). However, climate change and greater urbanization may be increasing homogenization between tree species and their associated soil microbial communities, which in turn could lead to loss of biodiversity (Rosier 2021). Although there is mixed evidence on the degree to which microorganisms have suffered biodiversity loss caused by urbanization, studies show that urbanization in some cities located in temperate and boreal urban regions can reduce soil microbial diversity, particularly that of ECM fungi (Epp Schmidt et al. 2017). Other studies comparing urban and rural sites in boreal regions found that mycorrhizal colonization was significantly lower in trees that grew in urban areas compared to those in rural environments (Bainard et al. 2011), with some studies finding that ECM richness in cities is mainly determined by the availability of organic material (van Geel et al. 2019). Finally, a study in Shanghai, China found that Ascomycota (sac fungi or ascomycetes), followed by Basidiomycota (basidiomycetes, likely including ectomycorrhizal taxa) and Zygomycota (zygote fungi, now separated into two phyla: Mucoromycota and Zoopagomycota), dominated urban park soils, suggesting that urbanization may be reducing fungal diversity, though this was not empirically confirmed (Zhang et al. 2019).
A study in Japan, which investigated the fungal community of evergreen broad-leaved forests, demonstrated lower ECM fungal species richness and diversity in urban and suburban forests than in rural forests. This was linked to low species richness in the Amanitacea family in urban and suburban forests and higher richness in the Russulaceae family in rural forests (Ochimaru and Fukuda 2007). A study conducted in Finland analyzed the ECM fungal responses in the rhizospheres of conifer and broadleaf trees in 41 parks and found that plant-ECM fungi richness and diversity were greater in control forests (a minimally disturbed forested area acting as a comparative benchmarks) than in urban parks. However, this difference was driven by taxon rank reordering rather than taxon replacement. (Hui and Liu 2017). Some of these results complement other findings suggesting that the species richness and diversity of other non-mutualistic fungi, mainly wood and leaf decomposers, were higher in urban forests than in rural forests (Ochimaru and Fukuda 2007).
Urbanization may have opposite effects on AM fungal communities. We found a study comparing urban and rural areas in the Beijing region discovered a significantly higher diversity of root AM in urban areas compared to those in rural locations (Lin et al. 2021). Plants with similar biomass in urban areas yielded a greater level of AM diversity than those growing in rural areas due to environmental stresses caused by heavy metals, habitat fragmentation, and fluctuations in biodiversity (Lin et al. 2021). Studies have suggested that moderate environmental stress can increase AM fungal diversity by favoring a wider range of stress-tolerant taxa and expanding niche differentiation in heterogeneous urban soils (Lin et al. 2021, Guo et al. 2025). We found a previous review on fungi in urban environments highlighted the potential global negative effects of pollution and the absence of native, locally adapted plant species on urban fungal communities (Newbound et al. 2010). These studies provide evidence of a decreased functionality of the mycorrhizal fungal communities in urban areas compared to rural areas. While some studies have documented the decrease in alpha-diversity (richness) of mycorrhizal communities in urban environments, we saw that others have addressed how these communities perform under abiotic stress. Some studies have shown that certain ECM fungi can enhance tree seedling tolerance to de-icing salt (Zwiazekk et al. 2019, Bai et al. 2021), while other studies were able to determine that ECM colonization of root tips can remain high in urban trees despite elevated levels of salinity, heavy metals, or alkaline pH (Olchowik et al. 2023).
Mycorrhizal fungi have also been used for decontaminating toxic environments via mycoremediation or fungal bioremediation (Singh 2006). AM have been used in phytostabilization—the use of plants and their associated microbes to immobilize contaminants in soil, reducing their mobility, bioavailability, and spread through root uptake, root sorption, or precipitation processes, and phytoextraction—the use of plants to absorb contaminants from soil and translocate them into aboveground tissues that can be harvested and removed (Meier et al. 2012) with maize (Weissenhorn et al. 1995), other herbaceous plants (Hetrick et al. 1994), and various tree species (Yang et al. 2015, Cabral et al. 2015). Another ecological function that mycorrhizal fungi facilitate in urban environments is the accumulation of carbon in living, dead, and residual hyphal biomass in the soil (Treseder and Allen 2000). Storing carbon in the soil could also have a positive impact on increasing soil productivity yield through the restoration of organic matter in degraded urban soils (Emilia Hannula and Morriën 2022).
Urban Trees
The urban tree canopy plays an important role in urban life for people and urban wildlife, providing environmental, social, and economic benefits (Mullaney et al. 2015). These benefits include increasing the diversity of urban fauna by providing habitat, food and landscape connectivity (Rhodes et al. 2011); mitigating the urban heat island effect and reducing buildings’ energy use in densely developed areas (Edmondson et al. 2016, Aboelata and Sodoudi 2019); helping control stormwater runoff (Berland et al. 2017, Grey et al. 2018); assisting in reducing wildfire risks (Labossière and McGee 2017, Damianidis et al. 2021); enhancing air quality (Nowak et al. 2014); reducing crime and improving overall human health (Kuo and Sullivan 2001, Donovan et al. 2013, Nowak et al. 2014, Giacinto et al. 2021); and supporting increased social interaction (van Dillen et al. 2012). Increased property values (Pandit et al. 2012), however, have been linked to an enhanced urban canopy, which could be seen as “green gentrification” if different communities benefit disproportionately (Perkins et al. 2004, Danford et al. 2014). Therefore, targeted tree planting in under-resourced neighborhoods is key to increasing equity in urban environments (Darling 2023).
Although street tree planting has increased primarily due to the need for a larger tree canopy, our understanding of street tree ecosystems remains limited because most forestry studies are based on rural forests. There is a need for additional investigations into the establishment and preservation of urban trees to ensure that trees grow to a state that allows them to provide canopy cover and maintain or increase carbon storage (Smith et al. 2019). Urban street trees have higher mortality than trees that grow in rural forests, which is consistent with previous models that suggest an acceleration of carbon cycling (the faster rate at which carbon enters and exits the vegetation pool) in urban vegetation (Smith et al. 2019). For example, 26% of New York City street trees die eight to nine years after planting (Lu et al. 2010). A typical street tree’s mean life expectancy is 19 to 28 years, with an annual mortality rate of 3.5 to 5.1% (Roman and Scatena 2011). This means that planting large numbers of trees in cities does not automatically translate to an increase in the overall tree population over the long term. To increase population levels, survival and planting rates must outweigh losses from death and removal (Roman et al. 2014). The most common human factors linked to urban tree mortality include vandalism and the lack of stewardship and maintenance. Ecological factors are related to species selection, size or age, and site characteristics (Hilbert 2019). Nowak et al. (1990) found that within the first two years, 34% of newly planted trees in Oakland, California had either died or been removed. A study in New York City found that trees planted on private property had higher survival rates (83%) than those planted on streets (63%) (Lu et al. 2010). This disparity likely reflects the harsher growing conditions experienced by street trees in contrast to trees on private property that benefit from larger soil volumes, reduced exposure to urban stressors, and more consistent maintenance and, watering by property owners, all of which contributes to higher survival rates (Smiley et al. 2006, Urban 2008, Roman et al. 2014, Mullaney et al. 2015). Forestry managers and city residents have reported that infrastructural damage such as sidewalk lifting or pipe bursts, is one of the main reasons for tree mortality, which commonly leads to the removal of the tree (Kirkpatrick et al. 2013). As they grow, trees and their roots are forced to compete for space in the built environment, resulting in damage to city infrastructure. This lack of space, as well as infertile soil, is one of the biggest challenges facing street trees (Lindsey and Bassuk 1992). Trees require loose and porous soil to support root development and structural stability, whereas most urban infrastructure is built to withstand loads such as cars and humans (Grabosky et al. 1998, Authier et al. 2022). Soil compaction limits the porous soil space through which roots expand (Grabosky et al. 2009).
Other challenges faced by street trees are traffic congestion that creates exhaust fumes that damage the trees, building development that can often damage trees that are in the way, de-icing salts that run off into the tree pits and alter the soil pH and salinity, impermeable surfaces that prevent aerobic activity, lack of resources such as nutrients and water, higher temperatures which are associated to the urban heat island effect and exposure to air pollutants. (Blunt 2008, Lu et al. 2010, Mullaney et al. 2015). With better maintenance plans that promote soil health such as adding mulch to tree pits or improving infrastructure design to create space for roots (e.g., the Silva Cell [DeepRoot, San Francisco, California, USA] or the Stratavault Soil Cell [Citygreen, Long Beach, California, USA]), some of the challenges that street trees face could be decreased significantly. While improving urban environmental conditions for tree health, we can also improve the conditions needed by mycorrhizal fungi.
Species Selection
The survival rate and health of urban trees may depend on the adaptability of plants to current and future climate change trends. Climate analogues and vulnerability metrics are currently being used to help guide species selection by identifying species adapted to a given set of climatic conditions (Esperon-Rodriguez et al. 2022). As the climate changes and temperatures increase, a shift in climate zones will occur, which will modify the boundaries of existing zones, potentially reducing survival rates and health of current urban trees (Williams et al. 2007, Yan and Yang 2018). Pests, invasive species, and diseases also play a role in the selection of plant species. For example, urban tree canopies dominated by a single species have an increased risk of infestation compared to a canopy that contains diverse species (Bassuk 1990). To help combat this, the Pest Vulnerability Matrix enables arborists and urban foresters to assess the vulnerability of urban trees to pests and diseases (Lacan and McBride 2009).
Planting long-living, low-maintenance, and moderate- to fast-growing species specific to site conditions had the largest impact on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (Nowak et al. 2002). Plants are also being selected based on their resistance to drought. Specifically, leaf water potential at turgor loss may be key to understanding a plant’s capacity to grow in dry and warm urban environments (Sjöman et al. 2018). Finally, a study in the city of Jena, Germany, found that specific species of trees have different effects on the biodiversity of mycorrhizal and wood-inhabiting basidiomycete macrofungi. Coniferous trees, for example, host a range of fungi of both red-list (endangered) and host-specific basidiomycete fungi (Purahong et al. 2022). We suggest adding fungal connectivity as an additional criterion when selecting tree species. By categorizing and designing with plants based on mycorrhizal compatibility, we could also support mycorrhizal fungi and the formation of mycorrhizal networks in urban environments.
Improving Soil Health in Cities
Making Space
Although guidelines for specific mycorrhizal fungi-based practices within design are scarce, research into planting methods that focus on soil health is becoming a key consideration when planting trees in urban environments (Craul 1992). Structural designs such as the Silva Cell and the Stratavault Soil Cell have been developed to promote tree root health by creating space for the roots to grow out and expand. These modular suspended pavement systems, interlocking structural units that form a load-bearing framework, hold lightly compacted soil while supporting traffic loads beneath paving. Similar approaches suggest root paths and trenches under sidewalks and roads to help prevent compaction and enable the tree roots to spread (Urban 2008). We hypothesize that this kind of design would also support mycelial colonization and expansion necessary to promote tree connectivity.
Permeable Surfaces
One approach to ensure the availability of water and oxygen in the tree root and soil fungal zone is the use of permeable surfaces (Volder et al. 2009). This approach can also help reduce stormwater runoff and pollution loads released into the street drainage system (Lucke and Beecham 2011). The drainage layer, an empty space installed between the surface and the soil, may also help promote root growth and tree stability (Smiley 2008). Although permeable surfaces such as porous asphalt, concrete grids, or pavers with sand infill can provide benefits to roots, they also prevent organic material such as plant debris from reaching the soil surface, which would challenge detritivorous fungi (Brussaard 1997).
Structured Soils
Structured soils are being designed specifically for urban environments to withstand the weight of vehicles and humans (Grabosky et al. 1998) and to retain water and create enough space for plant root expansion. With root damage caused by site conditions such as soil compaction—one of the leading causes of root mortality which leads to tree mortality—the importance of addressing the underground environment is vital (Lindsey and Bassuk 1992). Damage to the roots also damages the organisms that live on and in the roots such as mycorrhizal fungi. This is one of the reasons why soil volume is an important factor to consider when designing the space needed to foster the health of a tree.
Soil texture and the effects on soil moisture depend on the particle size class being used (e.g., sand, silt, or clay) and their respective ratio in the mixture (Grabosky et al. 2009, Craul 1992). Predictive models, a method involving mathematical tools used to forecast an outcome based on known relationships among variables, have been developed to estimate the volume of soil required to support a specific tree species with a major impact on survival (Lindsey and Bassuk 1992). Suspended pavement over non-compacted soils can be critical to promote the health and growth of street trees (Smiley et al. 2006). Soils with well-graded particle size distribution can help mitigate the effects of compaction while retaining moisture and nutrients. Soils such as sandy loams or loamy sands exhibit a small degree of compaction due to the angular shape of the particles that permits numerous points of contact, thereby creating structural stability (Craul 1992). Another method involves creating a stone matrix and suspending the soil within a grid of pockets. By doing this, researchers created a mixture that could bear load and promote rapid root exploration and growth (Grabosky and Bassuk 1995). Although the approach was not intended for mycelial growth, the increase in root growth and exploration likely had a positive effect on the growth of the root.
Mycorrhizal Inoculation
Another avenue of research involves mycorrhizal inoculation. Studies have found that this technique could have multiple positive effects on plant health such as supporting plants’ physiological activity during dry periods (e.g., increasing their drought tolerance) compared to that of non-inoculated plants (Ortega et al. 2004, Fini et al. 2011). Specifically, increased water uptake by the mycorrhizal root system is linked to increased transpiration (Navarro et al. 2009). Fungal interactions also increase plants’ resistance to diseases (Nara 2015). Inoculating trees with fungal endophytes induced the plants’ defense system, helping protect them from fungal pathogens (Arnold et al. 2003).
The successful inoculation of a plant with mycorrhizal fungi depends on the pairing of species. In a controlled study on soybeans and corn, researchers concluded that the inoculum formulation must be specifically tailored to each plant species (Barazetti et al. 2019). Researchers have found that one of the most important factors in ensuring the inoculation functions is the inoculum “potential” of indigenous mycorrhizae that are currently present in the soil. This compatibility between introduced host plants and the mycorrhizal fungi in the soil is essential when determining if a plant will benefit from inoculation (Brundrett et al. 1996). This method of pairing species offers landscape architects an opportunity to investigate plant selection based on mycorrhizal type when developing a planting scheme for a site. Finally, commercial inoculants are now being used by landscape practitioners in the field to help increase overall plant health. However, some caution is warranted. Some studies found that using fertilizer, inoculant, and a combination of the two can produce a significant increase in ectomycorrhizal development (Smiley et al. 1997). In contrast, Yuan et al. (2025) determined that fertilizers acted antagonistically in combination with inoculants. Finally, a meta-analysis evaluating 28 trials found that commercial inoculants were ineffective compared to soil inoculants from a rural forest (Maltz and Treseder 2015).
Although mycorrhizal inoculation is often considered beneficial in urban plantings, there are some cases in which inoculation may have little to no effect or even a negative effect. For example, problems may have arisen from using commercial AM fungal inoculants that caused potentially invasive AM fungal isolates, fungal strains that are not native to the local ecosystem, and/or the introduction of a pathogen linked to the inoculant (Schwartz et al. 2006, Antunes et al. 2009). While the purpose of inoculants is to enhance plant productivity, introducing a novel fungal isolate through inoculation can also have negative consequences, such as competition with existing fungal species (Callaway and Walker 1997).
Though physical structure is critical to soil health, evaluating chemical properties such as pH, salinity, and contamination levels is also necessary to ensure the vitality of mycorrhizal communities in urban environments. The presence of salts and heavy metals in disturbed soils can suppress colonization, reduce diversity, or alter fungal community composition (Kandeler and Horak 1996, Otlewska et al. 2020). Interventions that promote chemical soil health are currently being used, including adapting mycorrhizal strains to urban stressors such as de-icing salts (Balacco et al. 2023).
Soil conduits could connect street trees to each other as well as to neighboring vegetation to form larger mycorrhizal networks. Drawing by Cristian Umana.
Increasing Soil Connectivity
Soil Conduits
In order to re-integrate fungal mycorrhizal interactions and networks, and thereby improve the overall quality of the urban biota, we must redesign underground urban environments. Where urban infrastructure is being used to replace local soil with industrial-grade construction material, we propose the use of fungi-focused soil conduits as a planning tool for urban environments. As with other green infrastructure approaches such as overpasses on highways that provide safe crossings for mammals such as wolves and deer (Mysłajek et al. 2020) or pollinator corridors that provide insects and small mammals with flowering plants to pollinate (Kormann et al. 2016, Brom et al. 2022), these conduits would also promote the broader urban sustainability agenda by increasing biological connectivity (Ahern 2013). A conduit network would facilitate mycorrhizal connectivity (Figure 1), potentially improving the health of urban trees (Nara 2015, Tedersoo et al. 2020). Soil conduits can connect street trees to each other and be linked to groves or parks to form larger networks.
The proposed soil conduits evolved from the root paths proposed by Urban (2008) to incorporate the specific needs of mycorrhizal fungi. Creating the conduits involves an open-air trenching approach allowing oxygen to penetrate the upper layers of the soil and increase aerobic activity within the rhizosphere (Day et al. 2010). We suggest adding organic mulch on top of horticultural soil, followed by the addition of a metal grate that covers the trench, allowing for air circulation and pedestrian traffic (Figures 2 and 3). Prototypes of the soil conduit measure a minimum of 15 cm (6 inches) in width with a length that corresponds with the zoning regulations for planting trees. For example, New York City zoning dictates a minimum 6-meter (20-foot) separation between street trees (NYC Department of Planning 2023). While soil conduits are proposed as a design strategy to promote underground connectivity, we acknowledge that this concept remains at a prototype stage and requires systematic testing before broad application. From an applied perspective, several questions still warrant investigation: How many conduits are required to ensure functional connectivity between trees? What is the optimal length and diameter of the conduit? Should they be filled with soil that supports the same or different mycorrhizal types as the neighboring plants? A potential first step to investigate fungal growth across conduits could be to test whether connecting soils have a higher inoculum potential compared to unconnected soils. Framing conduits as testable hypotheses highlights their potential for urban ecological design while recognizing the need for empirical studies to optimize performance and evaluate feasibility.
Soil conduits measure 10–15 cm (4–6 inches) in diameter with a depth of 30 cm (12 inches) of mulch covered soil and an additional 10 cm (4 inches) of crushed stone at the bottom for drainage. Root systems run along the conduit from street tree to street tree, forming a mycorrhizal network that mimics ones found in rural environments. Drawing by Cristian Umana.
Planting Schemes
Greenways and land mosaics based on Forman’s (1995) framework of patches, corridors, and matrices are widely used in conservation to balance development with ecological integrity (Johnson et al. 1999). Studies have shown that forest trees which associate with the same mycorrhizal type, such as ectomycorrhizal, have the potential to transmit nutrients to each other (Beiler et al. 2009). Based on these findings, we hypothesize that by selecting plants that associate with the same fungal mycorrhizal type, a common mycorrhizal network can develop in a green patch, tree pit, or planter and travel to other patches through a soil conduit. An example of a mycorrhizal planting scheme could consist of an overstory of AM-associated Acer spp. and Pyrus spp. trees with an understory of smaller AM shrubs such as Rubus spp. or Digitalis spp. A different configuration could include ECM fungi pairing trees and shrubs, which could reinforce the formation of the mycelial network. Although plants are usually classified as forming either AM or ECM associations, some plants can form both simultaneously or at different life stages or in different environments (Teste et al. 2019). These “dual-mycorrhizal plant species,” which include Acacia spp., Alnus spp., Eucalyptus spp., Fraxinus spp., Populus spp., Salix spp., Shorea spp., and Uapaca spp. (Teste et al. 2019), could act as bridges between ECM- and AM-associating plants, resulting in planting schemes that could help expand and connect fungal networks (Figure 4).
Conclusions
We have synthesized contributions from the fields of mycology, ecology, landscape architecture, and urban planning to assess our current understanding of plant-fungal interactions and fungal mycorrhizal networks in urban environments. We found limited information on the topic, which suggests a need for further exploration to enable the fields of landscape architecture and urban planning to design future environments where mycorrhizal fungi are key components of design efforts. Specifically, we suggest designing urban landscapes that promote mutualistic soilbased interactions via mycorrhizal networks. We propose studying soil conduits, a tool designed to increase soil fungal connectivity among street trees and between street trees and green spaces, as a first approach to reach that goal. By integrating this approach into urban planning and landscape architecture, we anticipate new designs and planning approaches will emerge to facilitate this process at the scale of the city. Our approach will increase the chances that the interactions between trees and fungi that exist in the forest could also exist in our cities.
Soil conduits are built into the infrastructure, connecting mycorrhizal fungi to each other to form networks in urban environments. The conduits are designed to include a grate to allow for oxygen transfer, crushed stone to promote drainage and a membrane that acts as a porous barrier between the structural soil and horticultural soil. Drawing by Cristian Umana.
AM and EMC associating plants are connected by “bridging” plants that associate to both mycorrhizae types (AM and EMC) forming one CMN. Drawing by Vanessa Harden.
Agarcius comatus (shaggy ink cap, lawyer’s wig, or shaggy mane); 2. Boletus edulis (cep, penny bun, porcino); 3. Morchella esculenta (true morel). Agaricus comatus does not form mycorrhizal relationships, but B. edulis and M. esculenta do. The Florida Center for Instructional Technology, fcit.usf.edu.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) permitting copying and distributing the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, provided the original work is properly cited
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