Crown fire and surface fire: effects on myxomycetes inhabiting pine plantations

Myxomycetes are heterotrophic eukaryote organisms that have three life stages, none of which are known to be resistant to fire. The response of myxobiota to different severity of fire is not well known either. We examined myxomycetes in Pinus mugo plantations following a crown fire and in Pinus sylvestris plantations following a surface fire during the first three years after the wildfire event in forested coastal sand dunes in western Lithuania. Additionally, we investigated myxomycetes in corresponding unburned stands. All studied sites (unburned and burned) bore rather different myxomycete assemblages but the disparities of the species compositions between both burn types were more pronounced showing that fire severity had stronger impact on myxomycete species composition than the pre-fire stand type. Analysis of myxomycete assemblages (including the results from field collections, bark and litter cultures) showed that surface fire sites bore the highest number of post-fire species compared to crown fire and unburned sites. Dynamic annual changes in species composition were observed in all studied sites but only crown fire plots showed a clear chronosequence of post-fire myxomycete assemblages. Fire impact promoted establishment and/or sporulation of myxomycete species that are rare in similar unburned stands, or are usually confined to other types of forests and substrata. In addition, individual myxomycete species tended to switch substratum usage during the course of vegetation succession, with a final return to their usual substrata. This possibly signaled the end of early stage of post-fire succession.