MICROBIOME DRIVERS OF ALTERED SOIL NUTRIENT CYCLING IN POST-FIRE FOREST ECOSYSTEMS

The project has an overarching goal of understanding functional responses of soil microbiomes in the aftermath of wildfire. These responses have implications for soil health and ecosystem recovery. This effort has three more targetedcomponents: (1) short-term soil microbiome responses following recent wildfires in CO, (2) longer-term (decadal) soil microbiome responses using a unique burn-pile scar chronosequence as a proxy for severe wildfire, and (3) the use of controlled pyrocosm incubators to replicate wildfire in the laboratory and study dynamics in a more controlled setting. These efforts will yield new insights into how soil microbiomes respond across monthly, annual, and decadal time-scales and will be paired with complementary chemical datasets to assess how microbial activity impacts soil biogeochemical cycling