RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Preliminary insights into the potential of fire-prevention treatments to shape fire-resilient soil fungal communities in Mediterranean high-fire-risk shrublands
A1 Prada Polo, Claudia
A1 Schenk, Florian
A1 Sanz Benito, Ignacio
A1 Oria de Rueda Salgueiro, Juan Andrés
A1 Martín Pinto, Pablo
K1 Fire-prevention management
K1 Megafire
K1 Fungal diversity
K1 Community composition
K1 Cistus shrubland
K1 3106 Ciencia Forestal
AB Mediterranean ecosystems are frequently affected by wildfires; however, the increasing occurrence of megafiresrepresents a concerning shift in the region’s fire regime. Soil fungal communities are among the ecosystemcomponents most affected by fire, with potentially severe consequences for ecosystem functioning and for thelocal mushroom-based economy. This study evaluates the impact of wildfire on soil fungi and assesses theeffectiveness of prescribed burning and total mechanical clearing as fire-prevention strategies in areas at highrisk of megafires, with a particular focus on their effects on soil fungal communities. We studied plots that hadundergone prescribed burning or total mechanical clearing in 2020, some of which were later affected by the2022 Sierra de la Culebra megafire. Fungal diversity and community composition were assessed using a meta-barcoding approach by amplifying the ITS1 region and identifying operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in soilsamples. Soil physicochemical properties, vegetation and substrate surface cover data were also collected.Although no significant differences in species richness were observed between burned and unburned plots,wildfire-affected communities showed greater dominance imbalance. Changes in community composition,significantly correlated with fire occurrence, suggest the emergence of new ecological niches occupied bypyrophilous taxa after the megafire. Several pyrophilous indicator species were identified in wildfire-affectedplots; however, some edible taxa had declined in abundance. Although the effects of fire-prevention manage-ment in the wildfire-affected area were not statistically significant, prescribed burning appeared to buffer thepost-fire loss of fungal diversity more effectively than total mechanical clearing. We conclude that prescribedburning may foster the development of more fire-resilient fungal communities. Furthermore, we suggest that fire-prevention treatments not only help to reduce fuel loads in fire-prone areas but also do not appear to bedetrimental to certain valuable edible fungal species that support the mushroom-harvesting economy in theserural landscapes.
PB Elsevier
SN 0378-1127
YR 2026
FD 2026
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/80644
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/80644
LA eng
NO Forest Ecology and Management, 2026, vol. 601, p. 123363
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 10-ene-2026