TY - JOUR
T1 - Large, high-severity burn patches limit fungal recovery 13 years after wildfire in a ponderosa pine forest
AU - Owen, Suzanne M.
AU - Patterson, Adair M.
AU - Gehring, Catherine A.
AU - Sieg, Carolyn H.
AU - Baggett, L. Scott
AU - Fulé, Peter Z.
N1 - Funding Information:
Percent live EM fungal colonization in regenerating ponderosa pine seedlings was similar among burn severity classes (F = 1.48. p = 0.24; Appendix S2A), supporting our third hypothesis. The percentage of live EM root tips from regenerating ponderosa pine roots ranged from 23 to 32% colonization (Appendix Fig. S2A). The percentage of total (live + dead) EM colonization (F = 1.89; p = 0.15), and total non-colonized root tips (F = 1.28; p = 0.30) were also similar among severity classes (data not shown).We thank Scott Vojta, Larrea Cottingham, Lela Andrews, Jennifer Blanks, Spenser Biehler, and Katie Gibble for lab and field assistance; Steve Overby for helping with SAS code; Danna Muise for helping with map development, and Jose Iniguez, Paula Fornwalt and Mike Battaglia for including me in the National Fire Plan (NFP) stem-mapping project, and Jose Iniguez for helping with random plot selection, and checking seedling ages. This work was supported by the USDA FS Rocky Mountain Research Station, The NFP-13-16-FWE-43, and Achievement Rewards for College Students (ARCS) Foundation.
Funding Information:
We thank Scott Vojta, Larrea Cottingham, Lela Andrews, Jennifer Blanks, Spenser Biehler, and Katie Gibble for lab and field assistance; Steve Overby for helping with SAS code; Danna Muise for helping with map development, and Jose Iniguez, Paula Fornwalt and Mike Battaglia for including me in the National Fire Plan (NFP) stem-mapping project, and Jose Iniguez for helping with random plot selection, and checking seedling ages. This work was supported by the USDA FS Rocky Mountain Research Station , The NFP-13-16-FWE-43, and Achievement Rewards for College Students ( ARCS ) Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
PY - 2019/12
Y1 - 2019/12
N2 - Over the past three decades, wildfires in southwestern US ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson) forests have increased in size and severity. These wildfires can remove large, contiguous patches of mature forests, alter dominant plant communities and increase woody debris, potentially altering fungal community composition. Additionally, post-fire conditions may shift dominant fungal functional groups from plant-symbiotic ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi to more decomposer saprotrophic fungi. We investigated the long-term (13 years post-wildfire) effect of fire severity on 1) fungal sporocarp density, functional groups and community composition and 2) EM colonization and community composition from naturally regenerating ponderosa pine seedlings on the Pumpkin Fire that burned in 2000 in Arizona, USA. Plots were located in four burn severity classes: unburned, moderate-severity, and two high-severity (defined as 100% tree mortality) classes, either adjacent to residual live forest edges (edge plots), or >200 m from any residual live trees (interior plots). We found that high-severity burn plots had a unique sporocarp community composition, and a shift in dominant sporocarp functional groups, with 5–13 times lower EM sporocarp densities, and 4–7 times lower EM sporocarp species richness compared to unburned and moderate-severity plots. In contrast, saprotrophic sporocarp densities and richness were similar among burn severity classes, even with the large amount of coarse wood in the high-severity burn patches. Regenerating ponderosa pine seedlings had similar EM colonization and richness among severity classes, yet high-severity interior plots had a different community composition and a lower relative abundance of EM species compared to moderate-severity burn plots. Taken together, our results suggest that large patches of high-severity fire have long-term consequences for both EM sporocarp and root tip communities. Because EM fungal species vary in function, the limited species pool available in interior high-severity burn patches may influence pine recovery.
AB - Over the past three decades, wildfires in southwestern US ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson) forests have increased in size and severity. These wildfires can remove large, contiguous patches of mature forests, alter dominant plant communities and increase woody debris, potentially altering fungal community composition. Additionally, post-fire conditions may shift dominant fungal functional groups from plant-symbiotic ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi to more decomposer saprotrophic fungi. We investigated the long-term (13 years post-wildfire) effect of fire severity on 1) fungal sporocarp density, functional groups and community composition and 2) EM colonization and community composition from naturally regenerating ponderosa pine seedlings on the Pumpkin Fire that burned in 2000 in Arizona, USA. Plots were located in four burn severity classes: unburned, moderate-severity, and two high-severity (defined as 100% tree mortality) classes, either adjacent to residual live forest edges (edge plots), or >200 m from any residual live trees (interior plots). We found that high-severity burn plots had a unique sporocarp community composition, and a shift in dominant sporocarp functional groups, with 5–13 times lower EM sporocarp densities, and 4–7 times lower EM sporocarp species richness compared to unburned and moderate-severity plots. In contrast, saprotrophic sporocarp densities and richness were similar among burn severity classes, even with the large amount of coarse wood in the high-severity burn patches. Regenerating ponderosa pine seedlings had similar EM colonization and richness among severity classes, yet high-severity interior plots had a different community composition and a lower relative abundance of EM species compared to moderate-severity burn plots. Taken together, our results suggest that large patches of high-severity fire have long-term consequences for both EM sporocarp and root tip communities. Because EM fungal species vary in function, the limited species pool available in interior high-severity burn patches may influence pine recovery.
KW - Ectomycorrhizal fungi
KW - Forest resilience
KW - Mushrooms
KW - Regenerating pine seedlings
KW - Saprotrophic fungi
KW - Wildfire
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85072913372&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85072913372&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2019.107616
DO - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2019.107616
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85072913372
SN - 0038-0717
VL - 139
JO - Soil Biology and Biochemistry
JF - Soil Biology and Biochemistry
M1 - 107616
ER -