Meet the forest microbes that can survive megafires

A new research shows that when a forest is 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217

Megafires are fires of unprecedented size and intensity. Climate change is shortening the dry season in the west and causing temperatures to rise and snow to melt earlier.

In California's charismatic redwood tanoak forests, little is known about how plants and their associated soil microbiomes respond to megafires.

It is not likely that plants can recover from megafires without beneficial fungi that supply roots with nutrients, orbacteria that transform extra carbon and nitrogen in post- fire soil, according to mycologist and lead study author Sydney Glassman.

The UCR team has a paper in the journal.

The study is unusual because it examines megafire effects on forest microbes. Immediately after the 2016 Soberanes fire in Monterey County, soil samples were pulled from the same plots of land.

A researcher would have to burn the plot to get this kind of data. Glassman said it was difficult to predict where there would be a burn.

The team was not surprised to find that the Soberanes fire had a huge impact on the community of organisms. They were surprised that some yeast andbacteria increased in abundance after the fire.

Actinobacteria are responsible for helping plant material break down. The increase in Firmicutes is known for promoting plant growth, helping control plant pathogens, and remediating heavy metals in soil.

The team found a huge increase in heat resistant Basidioascus yeast, which is able to degrade different components in wood, including lignin, the tough part of plant cell walls that gives them structure and protects them from insect attacks.

Some of the microbes may have used novel strategies to increase their numbers in the burn-scarred soils.

The team found that both the ones that survived the megafire and the ones that didn't appear to be genetically related to one another.

Glassman said that they have shared adaptive traits that allow them to respond to fire, and this improves our ability to predict which microbes will respond, either positively or negatively, to events like these.

There is little known about the effects of fungi on the environment. It is important that studies like these continue to show the ways in which fires can affect the environment.

One of the reasons for the lack of understanding is that there are so few mycologists who study them.

More information: Dylan J. Enright et al, Mega‐fire in redwood tanoak forest reduces bacterial and fungal richness and selects for pyrophilous taxa that are phylogenetically conserved, Molecular Ecology (2022). DOI: 10.1111/mec.16399 Journal information: Molecular Ecology Citation: Meet the forest microbes that can survive megafires (2022, April 25) retrieved 25 April 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-04-forest-microbes-survive-megafires.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.