Wildfire impacts on root-associated fungi and predicted plant-soil feedbacks in the boreal forest: Research progress and recommendations

Root-associated fungi play a critical role in plant ecophysiology, growth and subsequent responses to disturbances, so they are thought to be particularly instrumental in shaping vegetation dynamics after fire in the boreal forest. Despite increasing data on the distribution of fungal taxonomic diversity through space and time in boreal ecosystems, there are knowledge gaps with respect to linking these patterns to ecosystem function and process. Here we explore what is currently known about postfire root-associated fungi in the boreal forest. We focus on wildfire impacts on mycorrhizal fungi and the relationships between plant-fungal interactions and forest recovery in an effort to explore whether postfire mycorrhizal dynamics underlie plant-soil feedbacks that may influence fire-facilitated vegetation shifts. We characterize the mechanisms by which wildfire influences root-associated fungal community assembly. We identify scenarios of postfire plant-fungal interactions that represent putative positive and negative plant-soil feedbacks that may impact successional trajectories. We highlight the need for empirical field observations and experiments to inform our ability to translate patterns of postfire root-associated fungal diversity to ecological function and application in models. We suggest that understanding postfire interactions between root-associated fungi and plants is critical to predict fire effects on vegetation patterns, ecosystem function, future landscape flammability and feedbacks to climate. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Automated summary

Root-associated fungi are crucial for plant ecophysiology, growth, and post-fire responses in the boreal forest. Understanding the impacts of wildfires on mycorrhizal fungi and plant-fungal interactions is important for predicting vegetation patterns, ecosystem function, and future fire risk.