An article by Clara, Kai, and collaborators at Stanford University was selected as editor’s choice in the Journal of Ecology. The print version of the issue, published today, also features a photo of the study site during a 2011 prescribed burn – the same treatment which helped the authors to conclude that climate change affects grassland soil microbial communities primarily through the legacy effects of fire and shifts in plant community composition. Co-authors Nona Chiariello and Chris Field retell the events of that day of the prescribed burn in an accompanying cover story. Read more about the article at the Journal of Ecology‘s blog and in the Zhu Lab’s previous blog post.

Qin C, Zhu K, Chiariello NR, Field CB, Peay KG (2020). Fire history and plant community composition outweigh decadal multi-factor global change as drivers of microbial composition in an annual grassland. Journal of Ecology, 108, 611-625. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13284