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Changes in Soil Fungal Communities, Extracellular Enzyme Activities, and Litter Decomposition Across a Fire Chronosequence in Alaskan Boreal Forests

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Abstract

Wildfires are a pervasive disturbance in boreal forests, and the frequency and intensity of boreal wildfires is expected to increase with climate warming. Boreal forests store a large fraction of global soil organic carbon (C), but relatively few studies have documented how wildfires affect soil microbial communities and soil C dynamics. We used a fire chronosequence in upland boreal forests of interior Alaska with sites that were 1, 7, 12, 24, 55, ~90, and ~100 years post-fire to examine the short- and long-term responses of fungal community composition, fungal abundance, extracellular enzyme activity, and litter decomposition to wildfires. We hypothesized that post-fire changes in fungal abundance and community composition would constrain decomposition following fires. We found that wildfires altered the composition of soil fungal communities. The relative abundance of ascomycetes significantly increased following fire whereas basidiomycetes decreased. Post-fire decreases in basidiomycete fungi were likely attributable to declines in ectomycorrhizal fungi. Fungal hyphal lengths in the organic horizon significantly declined in response to wildfire, and they required at least 24 years to return to pre-fire levels. Post-fire reductions in fungal hyphal length were associated with decreased activities of hydrolytic extracellular enzymes. In support of our hypothesis, the decomposition rate of aspen and black spruce litter significantly increased as forests recovered from fire. Our results indicate that post-fire reductions in soil fungal abundance and activity likely inhibit litter decomposition following boreal wildfires. Slower rates of litter decay may lead to decreased heterotrophic respiration from soil following fires and contribute to a negative feedback to climate warming.

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Acknowledgments

S. D. Allison, M. L. Goulden, S. N. Kivlin, N. A. Hynson, M. R. Maltz, and two anonymous reviewers provided insightful comments one earlier drafts on this manuscript. S. N. Kivlin and J. M. Talbot provided assistance with sample collection and analysis. We are grateful to Christopher Milles from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Allen Edgren and John Gardner from the Delta Area Forestry Office, and Sally McLeod, Stacy Staley, Leonard Hanson, and Rick Wilbur from the Pogo Mine for help with field site establishment, field site access, and sample collection. S.R. Holden was supported in part by the Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship Program (DOE SCGF), made possible in part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, administered by ORISE-ORAU under contract no. DE-AC05-06OR23100. A. Gutierrez was supported through the UC Irvine Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health NIH Grant R25GM056647 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Additional support was provided by DOE and NSF grants.

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  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California-Irvine, 321 Steinhaus Hall, Irvine, California, 92697, USA

    Sandra R. Holden, Abraham Gutierrez & Kathleen K. Treseder

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  1. Sandra R. Holden
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  2. Abraham Gutierrez
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Correspondence to Sandra R. Holden.

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SRH conceived and designed the study, performed research, analyzed data, and wrote the paper. AG performed research and analyzed data. KKT designed the study, contributed new methods, analyzed data, and helped write the paper.

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Holden, S.R., Gutierrez, A. & Treseder, K.K. Changes in Soil Fungal Communities, Extracellular Enzyme Activities, and Litter Decomposition Across a Fire Chronosequence in Alaskan Boreal Forests. Ecosystems 16, 34–46 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9594-3

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