Data from: Disturbance alters the forest soil microbiome

Billions of microorganisms perform critical below-ground functions in all
terrestrial ecosystems. While largely invisible to the naked eye, they
support all higher lifeforms, form symbiotic relationships with ~90% of
terrestrial plant species, stabilize soils, and facilitate biogeochemical
cycles. Global increases in the frequency of disturbances are driving
major changes in the structure and function of forests. However, despite
their functional significance, the disturbance responses of forest
microbial communities are poorly understood. Here we explore the influence
of disturbance on the soil microbiome (archaea, fungi and bacteria) of
some of the world’s tallest and most carbon-dense forests, the Mountain
Ash forests of southeastern Australia. From 80 sites, we identified 23,277
and 19,056 microbial operational taxonomic units from the 0-10 cm and
20-30 cm depths of soil respectively. From this extensive dataset, we
found the diversity and composition of these often-cryptic communities has
been altered by human and natural disturbance events. For instance, the
diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi declined with clearcut logging, the
diversity of archaea declined with salvage logging, and bacterial
diversity and overall microbial diversity declined with the number of
fires. Moreover, we identified key associations between edaphic (soil
properties), environmental (slope, elevation) and spatial variables and
the composition of all microbial communities. Specifically, we found that
soil pH, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, iron and nitrate were
associated with the composition of all microbial communities. In a period
of widespread degradation of global forest ecosystems, our findings
provide an important and timely insight into the disturbance responses of
soil microbial communities, which may influence key ecological functions.