Toby Kiers Wins 2025 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement

American evolutionary biologist Dr. Toby Kiers has been awarded the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize for the Environment”, for her pioneering research on underground fungal networks and their crucial role in sustaining life on Earth.

Recognising Underground Biodiversity

Dr. Kiers is the co-founder of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), a global initiative working to map, protect and raise awareness about life beneath the Earth’s surface.
Through SPUN, she has helped mobilise an international movement focused on safeguarding below-ground ecosystems.

Global Underground Atlas

In a major scientific breakthrough, Dr. Kiers and her colleagues helped chart the global distribution of mycorrhizal fungi through a worldwide Underground Atlas, launched last year.
This effort has:

• Revealed the scale of below-ground biodiversity
• Provided insights to guide conservation strategies
• Highlighted the role of underground ecosystems as vast carbon stores

Role in Carbon Sequestration

Research shows that plants transfer excess carbon underground, where mycorrhizal fungi draw down about 13.12 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, roughly one-third of global fossil fuel emissions.
This makes fungal networks a critical but often overlooked ally in climate change mitigation.

Fungi as Players in a “Biological Marketplace”

In a landmark 2011 paper published in Science, Dr. Kiers demonstrated that mycorrhizal fungi operate like shrewd traders in a “biological marketplace”:

• Fungi supply phosphorus and nitrogen to plants
• In return, they receive carbon-rich sugars and fats
• They actively move nutrients from areas of abundance to scarcity
• By exploiting nutrient imbalances, fungi secure greater carbon rewards

The research showed that plants are willing to pay a higher “price” for nutrients they lack, revealing a sophisticated system of mutual exchange and resource optimisation.

About the Tyler Prize

• Established: 1973
• Founders: Late John and Alice Tyler
• Prize Money: $250,000
• Eligibility: Individuals or organisations worldwide
• Objective: Recognise achievements delivering global environmental solutions
• Administered by: University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, USA