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Shifting soil fungal communities in response to fire and weed management in urban Banksia woodlands

Thursday, 12 May 2022

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  • Aaron Brace in dense Banksia woodland in Yeal Nature reserve.

    Aaron Brace in dense Banksia woodland in Yeal Nature reserve.

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  • AMS Newsletter
    https://www.australasianmycologicalsociety.com/_files/ugd/86d4e0_0ad4d31631204ad8bf6d62d1f468876b.pdf
  • AMS Newsletter

The Banksia woodland surrounding the city of Perth on Western Australia’s Swan Coastal Plain is iconic. The woodland is host to a diverse community of plants and animals, with some of the flowers, insects and birds being a delight to observe. Due to the ever-expanding urban landscape, the woodland is endangered and in 2016, was listed as a Threatened Ecological Community. Important threats to the woodlands include invasive weed species such as Erhata calycina, fire and climate change impacts such as drought. Much research has investigated the impact of these threats on the above ground aspects of the Banksia woodland but what if there was an important element that needs to be investigated from ‘the ground up’?

My PhD project investigates the soil fungi found in the Banksia woodland and how it is affected by fire and invasive species management (prescribed burns and herbicide application). I have used molecular methods (high throughput sequencing) and found around 14,000 molecular fungal taxa across the range of the woodland. When comparing areas with different fire regimes, I found that the soil fungi in the Banksia woodland seems to be fairly resilient to the effects of fire, with the community recovering fairly quickly to pre-fire levels. I have also found that using herbicides significantly changes soil fungal community, much more than any impact of fire. I am in the final year of my PhD, so please keep an eye out for me at future conferences and in publications very soon!

Aaron’s project is supported by the Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions where it is supervised by Dr Katinka Ruthrof, Dr Ben Miller as well as Dr Joe Fontaine (Murdoch University) and Dr Anna Hopkins (Edith Cowan University).

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