Assessing above and belowground recovery from ammonium sulfate addition and wildfire in a lowland heath: mycorrhizal fungi as potential indicators.
Name
Restoration_Ecology_-_2024_-_Kowal_-_Assessing_above_and_belowground_recovery_from_ammonium_sulfate_addition_and_wildfire.pdf
Description
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Size
1.2 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (CRC64NVME)
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Resource type
Journal article
Date published
January 18, 2024
Abstract
Atmospheric pollution containing soil‐nitrifying ammonium sulfate ((NH₄)₂SO₄) affects semi‐natural ecosystems worldwide. Long‐term additions of (NH₄)₂SO₄ to nitrogen (N)‐limited habitats, including heathlands, increase climate stress affecting recovery from wildfires. Although heathland vegetation largely depends on ericoid mycorrhizal fungi (ErM) to access soil N, we lack detailed understanding of how prolonged exposure to (NH₄)₂SO₄ may alter ErM community composition and host plants' reliance on fungal partners following wildfire and affect recovery. Simulation of atmospheric pollution ((NH₄)₂SO₄) occurred bi‐weekly for 5 years after a 2006 wildfire in a UK heathland. Ten years after treatments ceased, we measured vegetation structure, lichen and lichen photobiont composition, soil characteristics, ErM colonization, ErM diversity in roots and soil, and assessed ErM potential as novel recovery indicators. Heather height and density, and moss groundcover, were greater in N‐enriched plots. Lichen community indices showed significant treatment effects, but without differences in photobionts. Soil pH and Mg were significantly lower in treated plots while soil cation exchange capacity was significantly higher. There were no detectable differences in ErM composition and keystone ErM taxa between control and treated plots. Soil carbon stock measures were variable. Our results indicate atmospheric pollution following fire can have significant lingering effects above‐ and belowground. ErM diversity and root colonization were not assessed in the original N‐addition experiment; we advocate for their inclusion in future studies as an integral part of the recovery assessment toolkit. We show that mycorrhizal fungi diversity is a viable ecological tool and summarize key steps for ErM identification.
Funder
| Funder name | Awards |
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom | Kew Science Pilot Grant scheme |
Joint Nature Conservation Committee, United Kingdom | |
Ecological Continuity Trust, United Kingdom | |
Comunidad de Madrid, Spain | “Atracción de Talento Investigador,” 2020-T1/BIO-20503 |
Journal title
Restoration Ecology
Article number
e14096
Publisher
Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Ecological Restoration.
Place of publication
UK
ISSN
1061-2971
eISSN
1526-100X
Date accepted
December 19, 2023
Official URL
Rights statement
In Copyright
Additional information
IF = 4.181 (2023-2024)