Long-term recovery of microbial communities in the boreal bryosphere following fire disturbance

Many previous studies have investigated the response of animal and plant communities to disturbance events. However, the long-term (decades – centuries) recovery of microbial communities exposed to disturbance is poorly understood. Our study used a 360-year fire chronosquence in northern Sweden to investigate post-fire microbial community dynamics in the boreal bryosphere (the feather moss layer that blankets the forest floor).