Researchers used a novel method called MycoPins—sterilized wooden pins buried in forest soil—combined with DNA analysis to identify and track fungal communities decomposing dead wood in Finnish boreal forests. Over one year, they found 215 fungal species colonizing these pins across three different forest types. Notably, 41 of these species had never been recorded in the region before, showing that DNA-based methods can reveal fungal diversity that traditional observation methods miss.