The ecological and functional consequences of fire in heathlands

全球火灾制度正在发生变化，变得更加频繁和严重。这些变化不可逆转地改变了植物和土壤群落，潜在地影响了植物和共生土壤互惠生物之间的重要相互作用。不断变化的植物-土壤互惠关系影响着重要的生态系统功能，如养分循环、土壤碳储存和植物生长，以及地上和地下的生物多样性。然而，改变火势对植物-土壤相互作用的影响仍然是一个重大的研究空白。该项目将对全球荒原上的火-植物-土壤相互作用进行比较研究。在这些系统中，几个主要的灌木分类群与土壤中的菌根真菌形成了专门的共生体，但火对这些相互作用的影响却知之甚少。

Global fire regimes are changing, becoming more frequent and more severe. These changes irrevocably alter plant and soil communities, potentiallyaffecting important interactions between plants and symbiotic soil mutualists. Changing plant-soil mutualisms influence crucial ecosystem functions suchas nutrient cycling, soil carbon storage and plant growth, as well as above- and below-ground biodiversity. However, the effects of changing fire regimes onplant-soil interactions remains a significant research gap.The project will undertake a comparative study of fire-plant-soil interactions in heathlands globally. In these systems, several major shrub taxa form specialised symbioses with mycorrhizal fungi in the soil, but the effects of fire on these interactions are poorly understood.