Free-living fungi in the Anthropocene and impacts on public health, food security, and biodiversity

Global environmental changes that characterize the Anthropocene, such as extreme weather events, increase in temperature, severe droughts, etc. are affecting soil fungi, the crucial roles they play in ecosystems, and therefore impacting our society. In the past two decades, many studies have investigated the effects of diverse environmental changes (i.e. global change drivers) in fungi, at the species, population, and community levels, in natural and managed ecosystems, as well as under laboratory conditions. In this review, we draw together these studies to examine overall impacts on fungi when exposed to global change drivers. In addition, we summarize how global change and impacts on fungi are affecting society through impacts on public health, food security, and biodiversity. In closing, we present ways forward for research in this area, as well as gaps in knowledge and emergent questions in the field of soil fungi in the Anthropocene.