Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

How microorganisms in the soil respond to and are altered by forest wildfire

This work used DNA and RNA sequencing to investigate how wildfire burn severity affects forest soil microbiomes. The results revealed the mechanisms that allow specific bacteria, fungi and viruses to colonize and thrive in burned soils. These changes can influence nutrient cycling and carbon storage in soil.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Post-fire diversity and functional shifts in the soil microbiome.

References

  1. Parks, S. A. & Abatzoglou, J. T. Warmer and drier fire seasons contribute to increases in area burned at high severity in western US forests from 1985 to 2017. Geophys. Res. Lett. 47, e2020GL089858 (2020). This paper reports an increase in the area burned at high severity owing to climatic changes in the western United States.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Pressler, Y., Moore, J. C. & Cotrufo, M. F. Belowground community responses to fire: meta-analysis reveals contrasting responses of soil microorganisms and mesofauna. Oikos 128, 309–327 (2019). This meta-analysis reports that fire reduces the microbial biomass and abundance of soils by up to 96%.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Whitman, T. et al. Soil bacterial and fungal response to wildfires in the Canadian boreal forest across a burn severity gradient. Soil Biol. Biochem. 138, 107571 (2019). This study reports shifts in the composition of the soil microbiome with increasing burn severity.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Dove, N. C., Taş, N. & Hart, S. C. Ecological and genomic responses of soil microbiomes to high-severity wildfire: linking community assembly to functional potential. ISME J. 16, 1853–1863 (2022). This paper describes the only other study to use genome-resolved methods to investigate the post-fire soil microbiome.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Fischer, M. S. et al. Pyrolyzed substrates induce aromatic compound metabolism in the post-fire fungus, Pyronema domesticum. Front. Microbiol. 12, 729289 (2021). This paper reports a pyrophilous fungal isolate that can metabolize pyrogenic organic matter in a laboratory study.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Nelson, A. R. et al. Wildfire-dependent changes in soil microbiome diversity and function. Nat. Microbiol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01203-y (2022).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

How microorganisms in the soil respond to and are altered by forest wildfire. Nat Microbiol 7, 1329–1330 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01218-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01218-5

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing