ITS2 and 16S-FineScaleSecondarySuccession-Bac-Fun-ChaparralWildfire

Relevance: Chaparral is a fire-adapted community that covers 41% of the earth's surface. Due to its frequent fire regime, this system has been extensively studied to understand secondary plant succession; however, little is known about the succession of the soil microbial communities (bacteria and fungi). Given that this system is experiencing more frequent wildfires, which can lead to type conversion of fire-resistant shrubs to flammable invasive grasses, to understand the natural regeneration of the vegetation, and successional trajectories, we must first understand the secondary succession of the soil microbial communities. Goals: The goals of this study were to understand the effects of a chaparral wildfire 1) on bacterial and fungal biomass, richness, and composition, 2) to determine how time since fire affects bacterial and fungal biomass and richness, and 3) to assess the fine-scale secondary succession of post-fire bacteria and fungi.