Post-fire fungal succession in a Mediterranean ecosystem dominated by Cistus ladanifer L. María Hernández-Rodríguez a,⇑ , Juan Andrés Oria-de-Rueda a,b,1 , Pablo Martín-Pinto a,c,2 a Sustainable Forest Management Research Institute, Fire and Applied Mycology Laboratory, University of Valladolid (Palencia), Avda. Madrid 44, 34071 Palencia, Spain b Department of Agroforestry Sciences, University of Valladolid (Palencia), Avda. Madrid 44, 34071 Palencia, Spain c Department of Vegetal Production and Natural Resources, University of Valladolid (Palencia), Avda. Madrid 44, 34071 Palencia, Spain article info Article history: Received 15 May 2012 Received in revised form 1 October 2012 Accepted 6 October 2012 Available online 27 November 2012 Keywords: Fungal succession Forest fire Rockroses Richness Early stage Late stage abstract Wildfires are the major disturbance in Mediterranean ecosystems affecting both vegetation and fungal communities. After fire, fungal communities follow succession patterns mainly driven by the dynamics of post-fire plant communities. The aim of this study is to analyze post-fire fungal succession in a Med- iterranean ecosystem dominated by Cistus ladanifer in northwestern Spain. Sporocarps were collected and identified on a weekly basis during the autumn season from 2003 to 2006 in 100 m 2 plots located in recently burned plots (early stage) and mature stands (late stage). 146 fungal taxa were found during the 4-year sampling (56 late stage only and 23 early stage only). There was a shift in the taxa composition of fungal community during C. ladanifer succession. Several taxa such as Coprinus spp. and Pholiota car- bonaria were found in the early stage of the succession, whereas late stage taxa like Lepista spp. or Con- ocybe spp. fruited in the last years of succession. Cistus-specific taxa such as Entoloma cistophilum, Hebeloma cistophilum and Lactarius cistophilus were classified as multi-stage taxa as they were able to fruit in both early and late stages. Furthermore, several mycorrhizal taxa, usually associated with mature forest tree stands, were able to fruit much earlier in C. ladanifer scrublands. According to the results of this study, these ecosystems, traditionally considered ecologically and economically unproductive, seem to exhibit significant levels of fungal richness and can play an important role in diversity conservation as well as acting as a bridge for mycorrhizal inoculum in the recovery of forest stands after fire. Ó 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The genus Cistus comprises obligate seeder pyrophytic shrubs, which constitute early successional stages in Mediterranean eco- systems (Agueda et al., 2008). This genus is mainly distributed around the Mediterranean basin and it is represented in the Iberian Peninsula by 12 shrub species (Agueda et al., 2008). They fre- quently colonize highly degraded areas after fire, as high tempera- tures generated by fire in the top soil layers trigger seed germination (Bastida and Talavera, 2002). Cistus species may form both ectomycorrhizae and vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae and they are associated with more than 200 ectomycorrhizal fungal species of 40 different genera (Comandini et al., 2006). Cistus lada- nifer L. is, within this genus, the most abundant species, forming vast scrublands in the Iberian Peninsula. Stand-replacing wildfires are the major disturbance in Mediter- ranean ecosystems and can alter the physical, chemical and bio- chemical soil properties mainly due through intense heating and ash deposition (Peay et al., 2009). In this sense, fire destroys soil or- ganic matter, and alters soil pH and nutrient availability (Grogan et al., 2000). These effects are greater closer to the soil surface and their duration differs among sites depending on soil character- istics or fire severity (Rincón and Pueyo, 2010). Changes in soil properties and vegetation composition may significantly impact on fungal communities. Furthermore, fire produces direct effects on fungal communities by destroying belowground organisms (Buscardo et al., 2012). Differences in the return interval of fires can also modify the structure, composition and diversity of fungal communities (Buscardo et al., 2010). Thus, fires can affect the subsequent structure of fungal communities following succession patterns mainly driven by the dynamics of post-fire plant commu- nities (Cairney and Bastias, 2007). As plant species grow, changes in succession of the associated fungi occur (Gassibe et al., 2011). After a forest fire, pre-fire fungal communities are largely eradi- cated and secondary succession begins with the first significant rain (Claridge et al., 2009). Early-stage fungi or pioneer species 0378-1127/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.10.009 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 979108427. E-mail addresses: mariahr@pvs.uva.es (M. Hernández-Rodríguez), oria@agro. uva.es (J.A. Oria-de-Rueda), pmpinto@pvs.uva.es (P. Martín-Pinto). 1 Tel.: +34 979108364. 2 Tel.: +34 979108340; fax: +34 979108440. Forest Ecology and Management 289 (2013) 48–57 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Forest Ecology and Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foreco