Data from: Belowground community responses to fire: meta-analysis reveals contrasting responses of soil microorganisms and mesofauna

Global fire regimes are shifting due to climate and land use changes.
Understanding the responses of belowground communities to fire is key to
predicting changes in the ecosystem processes they regulate. We conducted
a comprehensive meta-analysis of 1634 observations from 131 empirical
studies to investigate the effect of fire on soil microorganisms and
mesofauna. Fire had a strong negative effect on soil biota biomass,
abundance, richness, evenness, and diversity. Fire reduced microorganism
biomass and abundance by up to 96%. Bacteria were more resistant to fire
than fungi. Fire reduced nematode abundance by 88% but had no significant
effect on soil arthropods. Fire reduced richness, evenness and diversity
of soil microorganisms and mesofauna by up to 99%. We found little
evidence of temporal trends towards recovery within 10 years
post-disturbance suggesting little resilience of the soil community to
fire. Interactions between biome, fire type, and depth explained few of
these negative trends. Future research at the intersection of fire ecology
and soil biology should aim to integrate soil community structure with the
ecosystem processes they mediate under changing global fire regimes.