Years After a Fire, Biocrust Microbial Communities are Similar to Unburned Communities in a Coastal Grassland.

ABSTRACT: Microbial communities are integral for ecosystem processes and their taxonomic composition and function may be altered by a disturbance such as fire. Biocrusts are composed of macroscopic and microscopic organisms and are important for a variety of ecosystem functions, such as nutrient cycling and erosion control. We sought to understand if biocrust community composition and function were altered 1 year after a prescribed fire and 6 years after a wildfire in a coastal California grassland on San Clemente Island. We used shotgun metagenomic sequencing and measurements of chlorophyll content, exopolysaccharide production related to soil stability, and nitrogen fixation. There were no differences in the community composition between unburned samples and the samples burned in the prescribed fi

SUBMITTER: Palmer B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10156770 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature