Hurricane disturbance on fungal communities in a tropical forest
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Date
2022-10-04
Authors
Hill, Emily
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Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
The intensity and frequency of hurricanes are expected to increase Atlantic due to warming temperatures. Hurricanes are the most common natural disturbance on tropical coastal forests. Despite what we know about the tree and soil damage after hurricanes, the effects of hurricanes on soil microbial communities remain poorly known. Soil fungal communities are critical to the health of plant communities through functional guilds like pathogens, decomposers, and mutualists. Here, we use soil samples collected from 2012 and 2018 surveys in the Luquillo LTER plot in Puerto Rico across land use history to investigate the influences of hurricane Maria coupled with land use on fungal communities. Our hypotheses are: H1) Inputs of leaf litter and debris from hurricane-force winds increase saprotrophs and plant pathogens which results in distinct pre and post hurricane composition for both soil and litter communities; H2) Tree defoliation reduces the relative abundance and diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi due to a lack of photosynthetic carbon; H3) Hurricane disturbance exacerbates land use legacy patterns and further weakens tree microbial signatures.
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Keywords
Ecology, Fungi, Hurricanes, Mycorrhizae