Effects of Fire on Soil Fungal Communities and the Environmental Drivers of Community Variation in Prairies of the Pacific Northwest

Prescribed burning is a common management tool used in restoring prairies of the Pacific Northwest, but the effects of fire on soil fungal community composition is unknown. We collected soil from prairies in Washington and Oregon that included a fire chronosequence: burned within one month, within two years, and not burned in approximately 150 years. We analyzed soil fungal community composition differences between regions and among treatments, and we also examined how fire affects fungal functional groups. In addition, we used variation partitioning to determine the relative contribution of abiotic, biotic, spatial, and burning factors to the variation observed in these soil fungal communities. Soil fungal communities were distinct by region, and there were small but significant effects of burning. While we did not observe any significant differences in relative functional group abundances with burning, there were community compositional differences at finer taxonomic scales. This dissertation includes unpublished coauthored material.10000-01-0