Skip to Main Content
U.S. Forest Service
Caring for the land and serving people

United States Department of Agriculture

Home > Search > Publication Information

  1. Resilience of arctic mycorrhizal fungal communities after wildfire facilitated by resprouting shrubs

    Share via EmailShare on FacebookShare on LinkedInShare on Twitter
    Dislike this pubLike this pub
    Author(s): Rebecca E. Hewitt; Elizabeth Bent; Teresa N. Hollingsworth; F. Stuart Chapin; D. Lee Taylor
    Date: 2013
    Source: Ecoscience
    Publication Series: Scientific Journal (JRNL)
    Station: Pacific Northwest Research Station
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.2980/20-3-3620
    PDF: Download Publication  (325.73 KB)

    Description

    Climate-induced changes in the tundra fire regime are expected to alter shrub abundance and distribution across the Arctic. However, little is known about how fire may indirectly impact shrub performance by altering mycorrhizal symbionts. We used molecular tools, including ARISA and ITS sequencing, to characterize the mycorrhizal communities on resprouting Betula nana shrubs across a fire-severity gradient after the largest tundra fire recorded in the Alaskan Arctic (July-October 2007). Fire effects on the components of fungal composition were dependant on the scale of taxonomic resolution. Variation in fungal community composition was correlated with fire severity. Fungal richness and relative frequent wildfires, mycorrhizal fungi on resprouting shrubs in tundra were not strongly differentiated into fire-specialists and fire-sensitive fungi. Instead, dominant fungi, including taxa characteristic of late successional stages, were present regardless of fire severity. It is likely that the resporouting life history strategy of tundra shrubs confers resilience of dominant mycorrhizal fungi to fire disturbance by maintaining an inoculum source on the landscape after fire. Based on these results, we suggest that resprouting shrubs may facilitate post-fire vegetation regeneration and potentially the expansion of trees and shrubs under predicted scenarios of increased warming and fire disturbance in Arctic tundra.

    Publication Notes

    • Visit PNW's Publication Request Page to request a hard copy of this publication.
    • We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
    • This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.

    Citation

    Hewitt, Rebecca E.; Bent, Elizabeth; Hollingsworth, Teresa N.; Chapin, F. Stuart, III; Taylor, D. Lee. 2013. Resilience of arctic mycorrhizal fungal communities after wildfire facilitated by resprouting shrubs. Ecoscience. 20(3): 296-310.

    Cited

    Google Scholar

    Keywords

    arctic tundra, Betula nana, fire, fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS), mycorrhizal community structure, nurse plant

    Related Search

    XML: View XML
Show More
Show Fewer
Jump to Top of Page
https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/48261