Why doesn't fire kill some bacteria and fungi?

Scientists have found microbes in scorched soil left by wildfires

UC Riverside scientists will spend the next three years studying the properties of soil microbes that respond to fire and the role these microbes play in storing or emitting powerful greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide

This work was supported by an $849,000 grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

" We know very little about which microbes respond to fire, why they do, or what impact they have on other environments," said UCR mycologist Sydney Glassman

To answer their questions, Glassman and UC Riverside environmental scientist Pete Homiac sampled soil from two major nearby burn scars, Orange County and Riverside County in 2018 The "Sacred Fire," and the 2020 "El Dorado Fire" in San Bernardino County, also known as the "Gender Revealing Fire

They will test whether the remaining microbes have characteristics similar to those of plants that thrive after a fire

One of these characteristics is the ability to reproduce quickly

The second feature is the ability to "eat" burnt things

In addition, there are some plants that can tolerate high temperatures

Future projects will not only focus on the characterization of post-fire microbes, but will also investigate whether adding pre-fire fungi and bacteria to the soil could aid recovery

In another independent but related study, members of the research team sought to characterize the effects of flame retardants, which are often added to large swaths of forest land

"Fires have strong effects on soil chemistry, and the main contributors to those effects are microbes," Glassman said