Fire regime, not time-since-fire, affects soil fungal community diversity and composition in temperate grasslands
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 05:29authored byEgidi, E, McMullan-Fisher, S, Morgan, JW, May, T, Zeeman, B, Franks, AE
Frequent burning is commonly undertaken to maintain diversity in temperate grasslands of southern Australia. How burning affects below-ground fungal community diversity remains unknown. We show, using a fungal rDNA metabarcoding approach (Illumina MiSeq), that the fungal community composition was influenced by fire regime (frequency) but not time-since-fire. Fungal community composition was resilient to direct fire effects, most likely because grassland fires transfer little heat to the soil. Differences in the fungal community composition due to fire regime was likely due to associated changes that occur in vegetation with recurrent fire, via the break up of obligate symbiotic relationships. However, fire history only partially explains the observed dissimilarity in composition among the soil samples, suggesting a distinctiveness in composition in each grassland site. The importance of considering changes in soil microbe communities when managing vegetation with fire is highlighted.
History
Publication title
FEMS Microbiology Letters
Volume
363
Issue
17
Article number
fnw196
Number
fnw196
Pagination
1-11
ISSN
0378-1097
Department/School
School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences
Publisher
Elsevier Science Bv
Place of publication
Po Box 211, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1000 Ae
Rights statement
Copyright 2016 FEMS
Repository Status
Restricted
Socio-economic Objectives
Assessment and management of Antarctic and Southern Ocean ecosystems