Urban soils along the Kern River and Los Gatos Creek are hotspots for Coccidioides in the San Joaquin Valley of California.

Coccidioides is present in urban riparian soils within California's San Joaquin Valley, with detection in 1,178 samples from cities like Bakersfield and Coalinga.

• Why it matters: Understanding where Coccidioides exists is crucial for predicting coccidioidomycosis risk and improving models under changing climate and land use, especially in urban areas.
• What they did: Researchers sampled soils from rodent burrows along waterways at various elevations, analyzing 1,178 soil and dust samples to detect Coccidioides and its associations with other fungi.
• The result: Coccidioides was found at low elevations in urban riparian zones, negatively correlated with soil moisture, and co-occurring with animal-associated fungi, suggesting an ecological niche linked to hosts.