Skip to content
Ecological Intelligence

Ecological evidence.
Independent perspective.
Explore Wild Lands ↗

Ecological Intelligence / Subject

fire ecology

Peer-reviewed North America

Charcoal-feeding fungi were not necessarily the most heat-tolerant

Evidence
Peer-reviewed
Geography
Longleaf-pine fire ecosystem, southeastern United States
System
Fire-adapted forest / soil fungal ecology

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

Researchers compared seven Trichoderma and Mucor isolates grown on pyrogenic carbon, sucrose and control substrates under different temperatures. Many could grow on fire-derived carbon, but evidence that charcoal use and heat tolerance were coordinated was weak. Growth strategies also varied substantially within species.

WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ

Disturbance ecology needs to treat different microbial traits separately: persistence through heat, colonization after fire and decomposition of black carbon do not have to be the same adaptation.

CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY

Laboratory growth of seven isolates is not a measurement of ecosystem-scale decomposition, soil carbon turnover or field postfire recovery. Traits may vary with substrate and environment, and the source is an accepted, early-layout manuscript.

SOURCE

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution — Chung et al. (2026)
View original evidence ↗

Seven cultured fungal isolates from a fire-adapted system complicate the idea that all postfire traits travel together.

Read the Wild Lands assessment →
Commentary Latin America & Caribbean

A Cerrado grazing claim is being challenged on design, diversity and fire-regime grounds

Evidence
Commentary
Geography
Brazilian Cerrado
System
Fire-dependent tropical savanna

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

The comment notes that grazing treatments in the underlying study were confounded with site identity and lacked true treatment replication. The long-term grazed site had roughly 30% fewer species than the ungrazed site, and short-term exclusion recovered vegetation structure but not diversity. Grazed biomass also remained above typical fire-maintained Cerrado levels.

WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ

This is a warning against translating an observational management contrast into a broad prescription. Structural recovery, lower fuel and biodiversity recovery are different outcomes, and a fire-suppressed baseline may be the wrong reference condition for a fire-dependent biome.

CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY

This is a peer-reviewed scientific comment, not a new replicated grazing experiment, and the original authors have published a response. The exchange is an active methodological and interpretive dispute rather than a final verdict on all managed grazing in savannas.

SOURCE

Plant Ecology · Scientific comment
View original evidence ↗

A new scientific comment argues that evidence does not support treating cattle as a conservation ally or fire substitute in native Cerrado savannas.

Read the Wild Lands assessment →

Keep exploring

Follow the systems. Find the connections.

WildlifeLandWaterOceansClimateCitiesOne HealthGovernanceMethods / Monitoring
Browse the archive →