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MICROBENet-Net: Multi-Institute Collaborative Research on BElowground plant-microbial interactions Network of Networks. 2024/2028 NSF AccelNet Award 2412561 https://microbenetwork.net/.
MicrobeNet^Net
[…] MICROBENet^Net Theme and Grand Challenge: Plants and microorganisms regulate a diverse array of processes that modulate the Earth system. Yet, we know remarkably little about how variable plant-microbial interactions are across the globe, how microbial connections with plants respond to global change, and if changes in plant-microbe interactions will lead to predictable changes in plant, ecosystem, and macro-scale ecology. While microbial ecologists and plant ecologists both explore questions about geography, interactions, and function, this work has often occurred in plant or microbial silos. Focusing on either plants or microbes resulted in the development of distinct disciplinary vocabularies and meanings, even when using similar tools and asking questions across similar scales. […]
Events
2025-03-20/2025-03-24 - MicrobeNet^Net colloquium hosted by the University of Tennessee Knoxville.
2025-03-21 - A prototype to show overlap of taxonomic plant names of possible fungal hosts across various plant-fungus datasets. See Shared Plant Taxa across MicrobeNetNet Databases (prototype).
2025-05-29 - Holly Andres documents 2025 MicrobeNet^Net Colloquium by publishing: Sikes, B., Classen, A., Kivlin, S., Zanne, A., & Holly Andres. (2025). 2025 MicrobeNet^Net Colloquium. 2025 MicrobeNet^Net Colloquium, Knoxville, TN. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15547951
2025-05-30 - Daniel Mietchen publishes “2025 MicrobeNet^Net Colloquium” https://scholia.toolforge.org/event/Q134609359 and https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134609359 including references to colloquium participants based on Sikes et al. 2025. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15547951.
2025-06-11 - Follow-up meeting exploring research questions related AMF (Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi) and fine root traits of their host plants using FRED and MaarjAM data. Rolling meeting notes at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NIx1X24DW-z5e-MzNbNOccld1OTqO-ojYfwnDfw6lQA/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.w7heqg8icqx8 .
2026-01-11 - publication of meeting review - Andres, H., S. N.Kivlin, B. A.Sikes, A. E.Zanne and A. T.Classen2026. Reducing Interdisciplinary Roadblocks Through Multi-Network Collaboration on Plant–Microbial Interactions. Bull Ecol Soc Am0(0):e70060. https://doi.org/10.1002/bes2.70060.
2026-02-26 - Published an experimental MicrobeNetNet data review corpus following the MicrobeNetNet General Meeting showing how heterogeneous datasets can be versioned and integrated as a unified data corpus for review and data exploration. The initial focus in on dataset describing species interactions. Poelen, J. H. (2026). MicrobeNetNet Dataset Review Corpus and Associated Data Products hash://md5/5981a37a16c25204dc18d9188f185b19 hash://sha256/7448991edd5f79db02519a5b3d4691c50a60c02f45d40f087402a7a492da3a3e [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18794828.
2026-02-26 - Ben Sikes created MicrobeNetNet #tracking-databases channel to facilitate the sharing
Dataset Review
To help better understand existing fungal-plant interaction datasets, MicroNet^Net aims to better connect and use these existing datasets. The list below contains the list of dataset selected for review.
Click on badges to browse/download indexed records or inspect automated reviews.
AusTraits / 
Climate-linked biogeography of mycorrhizal fungal spore traits / 
FRED / 
FunFun (aka Fun2Fun) / 
FungalRoot / 
FungalTraits / GenBank Fungi Host Accessions / 
GlobalAMFungi / 
GlobalFungi / 
International Collection of Microorganisms from Plants (ICMP) / 
MaarjAM / 
Microbial Atlas of Predicted Species (MAPS) / 
MycoDB / 
MycoPortal / 
New Zealand Fungal and Plant Disease Collection (PDD) / 
Policelli et al. 2023 / 
USDA Fungus Host Database / 
Unite /
| status | Metadata|Data|Review | dataset | contact |
|---|---|---|---|
    |
M | D | R | AusTraits | Daniel Falster / Rachael Gallagher |
  |
M | D | R | Climate-linked biogeography of mycorrhizal fungal spore traits | Smriti Pehim Limbu |
  |
M | D | R | FRED | Luke McCormack |
  |
M | D | R | FunFun (aka Fun2Fun) | Amy Zanne? |
     |
M | D | R | FungalRoot | Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia |
  |
M | D | R | FungalTraits | Sergei Põlme |
| |
M | D | R | GenBank Fungi Host Accessions | Conrad Schoch? |
  |
M | D | R | GlobalAMFungi | Petr Kohout |
  |
M | D | R | GlobalFungi | Petr Baldrian |
  |
M | D | R | International Collection of Microorganisms from Plants (ICMP) | Aaron Wilton |
  |
M | D | R | MaarjAM | Maarja Öpik |
  |
M | D | R | Microbial Atlas of Predicted Species (MAPS) | Stephanie Kivlin |
  |
M | D | R | MycoDB | V. Bala Chaudhary |
  |
M | D | R | MycoPortal | Andrew Miller |
  |
M | D | R | New Zealand Fungal and Plant Disease Collection (PDD) | Aaron Wilton |
  |
M | D | R | Policelli et al. 2023 | Nahuel Policelli |
  |
M | D | R | USDA Fungus Host Database | Lisa Castlebury |
  |
M | D | R | Unite | Kessy Abarenkov |
Related
Species interactions in tree-fungus systems - https://mariashumskaya.com/connect-at-the-2026-meeting-on-tree-fungus-species-interactions/ - A four‑day meeting centered on wood ecology, with a particular focus on species interactions within tree–fungus systems. This mini‑symposium brings together leading experts to synthesize the current state of the field, highlight emerging research frontiers, and establish new opportunities for networking and collaboration.
Dead Wood Course 2026 led by Dmitry Schigel https://adlignum.com/dead-wood-course-2026-forma-iberica
Romero-Olivares, A.L., Morrison, E.W., Pringle, A. et al. Correction to: Linking Genes to Traits in Fungi. Microb Ecol 82, 156 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-021-01776-x
van Galen, L.G., Smith, G.R., Margenot, A.J. et al. A global database of soil microbial phospholipid fatty acids and enzyme activities. Sci Data 12, 1568 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05759-2
Szánthó, L.L., Merényi, Z., Donoghue, P. et al. A timetree of Fungi dated with fossils and horizontal gene transfers. Nat Ecol Evol 9, 1989–2001 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02851-z
Goicolea, T., Morales-Barbero, J., García-Viñas, J.I. et al. A unified plant ecology database for Spain. Sci Data (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-06757-8
Díaz, S., Kattge, J., Cornelissen, J.H.C. et al. The global spectrum of plant form and function: enhanced species-level trait dataset. Sci Data 9, 755 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01774-9
