Soil communities following harvest have different early successional dynamics compared with post-wildfire patterns

Area of Science:

• Forest Ecology
• Soil Science
• Disturbance Ecology

Background:

• Stand-replacing wildfire is a key natural disturbance in boreal forests.
• Clearcut harvesting mimics wildfire's renewal process.
• Understanding soil community recovery after disturbances is crucial for forest management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess soil community convergence following clearcut harvest compared to wildfire.
• To evaluate recovery trajectories of bacteria, fungi, and arthropods.
• To examine cumulative disturbance effects from salvage logging.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a 60-year clearcut harvest chronosequence and a 20-year salvage harvest chronosequence.
• Employed DNA metabarcoding and bioinformatic tools to analyze soil biota.
• Applied beta diversity analyses to track community recovery over time.

Main Results:

• Bacteria and arthropods showed faster convergence to wildfire reference conditions after clearcut harvest than fungi.
• Fungal communities did not converge within the study period.
• Salvage logging following wildfire resulted in soil communities diverging from both clearcut and wildfire references.

Conclusions:

• Clearcut harvesting can facilitate soil community recovery, with varying rates among taxa.
• Salvage logging may have compounded negative effects on soil biota.
• DNA metabarcoding is a powerful tool for monitoring soil biodiversity and informing forest management.