Impacts of wildfire on soil microbiome in Boreal environments

• Published in: Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health
• Main Authors: Köster, Kajar, Aaltonen, Heidi, Berninger, Frank, Heinonsalo, Jussi, Köster, Egle, Ribeiro-Kumara, Caius, Sun, Hui, Tedersoo, Leho, Zhou, Xuan, Pumpanen, Jukka
• Other Authors: Department of Forest Sciences, Viikki Plant Science Centre (ViPS), Forest Soil Science, Ecosystem processes (INAR Forest Sciences), Forest Ecology and Management, Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR community), Department of Food and Nutrition, Jussi Heinonsalo / Principal Investigator, Doctoral Programme in Sustainable Use of Renewable Natural Resources
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2022
• Subjects: Fire disturbance; Boreal forest; Microbiome; Soil fungi; Soil bacteria; 4112 Forestry; 1181 Ecology; evolutionary biology; Arctic; permafrost
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/339557

The temperature changes for the future climate are predicted to be the most pronounced in boreal and arctic regions, affecting the stability of permafrost and fire dynamics of these areas. Fires can affect soil microbiome (archaea, bacteria, fungi, and protists) directly via generated heat, whereas fire-altered soil properties have an indirect effect on soil microbiome. Fires usually decrease microbial biomass and alter microbial community composition. These changes can take decades to recover to prefire states. As the fire occurrence times are expected to change in the future, and the fire return intervals, intensity, and severity are expected to increase in boreal environments, the fire-related changes in the soil microbiome, including its recovery and resilience, are inevitable. Peer reviewed