title: Species-abundance distribution patterns of soil fungi: contribution to the ecological understanding of their response to experimental fire in Mediterranean maquis (southern Italy).
abstract: Experimental fires, of both low and high intensity, were lit during summer 2000 and the following 2 y in the Castel Volturno Nature Reserve, southern Italy. Soil samples were collected Jul 2000-Jul 2002 to analyze the soil fungal community dynamics. Species abundance distribution patterns (geometric, logarithmic, log normal, broken-stick) were compared. We plotted datasets with information both on species richness and abundance for total, xerotolerant and heat-stimulated soil microfungi. The xerotolerant fungi conformed to a broken-stick model for both the low- and high intensity fires at 7 and 84 d after the fire; their distribution subsequently followed logarithmic models in the 2 y following the fire. The distribution of the heat-stimulated fungi changed from broken-stick to logarithmic models and eventually to a log-normal model during the post-fire recovery. Xerotolerant and, to a far greater extent, heat-stimulated soil fungi acquire an important functional role following soil water stress and/or fire disturbance; these disturbances let them occupy unsaturated habitats and become increasingly abundant over time.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy. Annamaria.persiani@uniroma1.it
authors.forename: Anna Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Persiani
authors.forename: Oriana
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Maggi
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D003710:Demography; D004463:Ecology; D005390:Fires; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D007558:Italy; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012987:Soil; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D012987:Soil