Response of Fungal Communities to Fire in a Subtropical Peatland [post]

Jianqing Tian, Hongjun Wang, Rytas Vilgalys, Mengchi Ho, Neal Flanagan, Curtis J Richardson
2021 unpublished
Purpose: Wildfire, an increasing disturbance in peatlands, could dramatically change carbon stocks and reshape plant/microbial communities, with long-lasting effects on peatland functions. Soil fungi are important in controlling the belowground carbon and nutrient cycling in peatlands; however, the impact of altered fire regimes on these fungi is still unclear. Methods: Here we assessed fungal abundance, composition, and diversity across four soil depths (0–5 cm, 6–10 cm, 11–15 cm, 16–20 cm)
more » ... er low-intensity and high-intensity fire in a subtropical peatland in the southeastern USA. Results: Low-intensity fire significantly increased fungal Shannon diversity and the saprotrophic fungal composition in the 0–5 cm soil layer immediately and then retracted within 2 years. Such hump-shaped pattern, however, were not observed in deeper soils. The dominant fungal class Archaeorhizomycetes declined initially and then returned to pre-low-intensity fires levels at 0–5 cm depths. Time since low-intensity fire was a primary driver of fungal composition in the 0–10 cm soil depth, while geographical distance among sites affected the deeper soils (11–20 cm). The fungal Shannon diversity failed to recover to the unburned state even after 30 years after high-intensity fire, especially in 6–20 cm soil depths. Stratification patterns of the fungal community was diminished by high-intensity fire. Soil properties (either phenolics or carbon) were the primary drivers in shaping fungal community reassembly after high-intensity fire across all soil depths. Conclusion: Collectively, the fungal communities seem to be highly resilient to low-intensity fire, but not to high-intensity fire in our shrub bog peatlands.
doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-196967/v1 fatcat:hnpxuznazrafzj4uri72t6ahm4