Ecological and genomic responses of soil microbiomes to high-severity wildfire: linking community assembly to functional potential.

ABSTRACT: Increasing wildfire severity, which is common throughout the western United States, can have deleterious effects on plant regeneration and large impacts on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling rates. Soil microbes are pivotal in facilitating these elemental cycles, so understanding the impact of increasing fire severity on soil microbial communities is critical. Here, we assess the long-term impact of high-severity fires on the soil microbiome. We find that high-severity wildfires result in a multi-decadal (>25 y) recovery of the soil microbiome mediated by concomitant differences in aboveground vegetation, soil chemistry, and microbial assembly processes. Our results depict a distinct taxonomic and functional successional pattern of increasing selection in post-fire soil microbial communit

SUBMITTER: Dove NC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9213548 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature