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Meta-Analysis
. 2025 Aug;31(8):e70386.
doi: 10.1111/gcb.70386.

Fire Limits Soil Microbial Dispersal and Differentially Impacts Bacterial and Fungal Communities

Jacob R Hopkins  1   2 , Giuseppina Vizzari  3   4 , Alison E Bennett  1 , Antonino Malacrinò  3   5
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Fire Limits Soil Microbial Dispersal and Differentially Impacts Bacterial and Fungal Communities

Jacob R Hopkins et al. Glob Chang Biol. 2025 Aug.

Abstract

Fire is a globally pervasive force reshaping ecosystems, yet its influence on the ecological processes structuring soil microbiomes remains poorly understood. Using a meta-analysis of > 2600 amplicon sequencing samples across 19 global studies, we tested whether fire alters soil microbiome assembly processes, diversity, and ecological selection for pyrophilic specialists. Contrary to prevailing assumptions, we found that fire did not significantly shift ecological selection processes in bacteria or fungi but instead constrained dispersal, particularly reducing dispersal in bacterial and fungal communities and increasing ecological drift in fungi. Despite limited evidence for ecological selection, fire consistently filtered for specialist taxa, increasing their relative abundance across microbial communities. Fire also reduced fungal diversity and evenness, while bacterial communities exhibited greater dominance and loss of rare taxa. These findings support the idea that fire promotes microbial post-fire niche specialization while disrupting dispersal pathways. Our results indicate that increasing fire frequency and severity under climate change may homogenize soil microbial communities, reduce microbial resilience, and constrain ecosystem recovery.

Keywords: community assembly; dispersal; disturbance; fire; pyrodiversity; soil microbe.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Effect size (±95% CI) of fire compared to unburned (control) sites on the ecological processes driving the assembly of soil (a) bacterial and (b) fungal communities. Bars in blue represent variables with effect size significantly different from zero (Table S1).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Effect size (±95% CI) of fire compared to unburned (control) sites on the diversity of soil (a) bacterial and (b) fungal communities. Bars in blue represent variables with effect size significantly different from zero (Table S1).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Proportion of specialists and generalists within soil (a) bacterial and (b) fungal communities in fire (red) compared to unburned (control, blue) sites. See Tables S2 and S3 for details on the model and post hoc contrasts.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Data Sources

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