Long-Term Recovery of Microbial Communities in the Boreal Bryosphere Following Fire Disturbance.

Our study used a ∼360-year fire chronosequence in northern Sweden to investigate post-fire microbial community dynamics in the boreal bryosphere (the living and dead parts of the feather moss layer on the forest floor, along with the associated biota). We anticipated systematic changes in microbial...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cutler, Nick A, Arróniz-Crespo, María, Street, Lorna E, Jones, David L, Chaput, Dominique L, DeLuca, Thomas H
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2017
Subjects:
Boreal forest
Climate change
Feather mosses
Microbial community structure
Nutrient cycling
Post-fire succession
Ascomycota
Basidiomycota
Bryophyta
Fires
Microbiota
Proteobacteria
Sweden
Taiga
Trees
Northern Sweden
taiga
Online Access:https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/260765
https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.5919
Description
Summary:Our study used a ∼360-year fire chronosequence in northern Sweden to investigate post-fire microbial community dynamics in the boreal bryosphere (the living and dead parts of the feather moss layer on the forest floor, along with the associated biota). We anticipated systematic changes in microbial community structure and growth strategy with increasing time since fire (TSF) and used amplicon pyrosequencing to establish microbial community structure. We also recorded edaphic factors (relating to pH, C and N accumulation) and the physical characteristics of the feather moss layer. The molecular analyses revealed an unexpectedly diverse microbial community. The structure of the community could be largely explained by just two factors, TSF and pH, although the importance of TSF diminished as the forest recovered from disturbance. The microbial communities on the youngest site (TSF = 14 years) were clearly different from older locations (>100 years), suggesting relatively rapid post-fire recovery. A shift towards Proteobacterial taxa on older sites, coupled with a decline in the relative abundance of Acidobacteria, suggested an increase in resource availability with TSF. Saprotrophs dominated the fungal community. Mycorrhizal fungi appeared to decline in abundance with TSF, possibly due to changing N status. Our study provided evidence for the decadal-scale legacy of burning, with implications for boreal forests that are expected to experience more frequent burns over the course of the next century. Natural Environment Research Council (Grant ID: NE/ I027150/1), Royal Geographical Society (Grant ID: SRG 13:13), Trinity College Cambridge

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