Below ground
Warmer, drier conditions are increasing the severity and size of wildfires and altering seen and unseen landscapes. Surface heat from wildfires can reach up to 1800F, killing soil microorganisms and changing microbial habitats belowground. Post-fire ecosystem recovery depends on the resilience and function of these unseen and highly diverse communities. How wildfires affect soil microbial function and ecosystem resilience first requires an understanding of which microbes are responding to fire.
This photo shows a hole left from an incinerated root system. When fires burn at high temperatures, they can ignite underground causing severe damage or eradication of the mycorrhizal networks living in the roots.
art + ecosystem science
By burying a quilt that embodies human community stories and land connections, we hope to learn about microbial community diversity and responses to fire. The quilt serves as both an offering of organic matter (plant and animal-based fibers) to soil microorganisms, and a way of capturing the identity of microbes that inhabit the quilt during its burial.
High throughput sequencing will be used to characterize fungal and bacterial community diversity associated with the quilt and will be compared with soil microbial communities from nearby burn scars. We will also compare soil respiration as an indicator of microbial activity in burned and unburned soils. Once the quilt is unearthed it will serve as a point source of unburned soil microbial inoculum for tree seedlings that will be planted on burned lands.
Resources + Precedents
We are also collecting soil samples independent of the quilt for control and to diversify our samples. In these images you can see the first inch of soil burned and charred.
soil sampling and cultivation
dish cultivation
Samples of fungi collected and cultured on petri dishes in Potato Dextrose Agar. Fungi in certain dishes were further cultured to attempt to isolate species. We have found numerous melanized fungi in the soil (a great sign) and hope to determine who they are soon.
