Temporal dynamics of soil fungi in a pyrodiverse dry-sclerophyll forest

Fire is a major evolutionary and ecological driver that shapes biodiversity in forests. While above-ground community responses to fire have been well-documented, those below-ground are much less understood. However, below-ground communities, including fungi, play key roles in forests and facilitate the recovery of other organisms after fire. Here, we used internal transcribed spacer (ITS) meta-barcoding data from forests with three different times since fire [short (3 years), medium (13–19 years) and long (>26 years)] to characterize the temporal responses of soil fungal communities across functional groups, ectomycorrhizal exploration strategies and inter-guild associations. Our findings indicate that fire effects on fungal communities are strongest in the short to medium term, with clear distinctions between communities in forests with a short time (3 years) since fire, a medium time (13–19 years) and a long time (>26 years) since fire. Ectomycorrhizal fungi were disproportionat..., Please see the README document (\"README_dryad.csv\") and the accompanying published article: Bowd, E. J., Egidi, E., Lindenmayer, D. B., Wardle, D. A., Kardol, P., & Foster, C. (2023). Temporal dynamics of soil fungi in a pyrodiverse dry-sclerophyll forest. Molecular Ecology, 32(15), 4181–4198.
https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17036, Excel