Surviving trees and deadwood moderate changes in soil fungal communities and associated functioning after natural forest disturbance and salvage logging

This research demonstrates a significant response of soil fungal communities to natural forest disturbance and salvage logging, with consequences for decomposition and soil organic matter dynamics and concludes that the retention of surviving trees and deadwood as biological legacies attenuated associated changes to a significant extent, highlighting their importance for the preservation of ectomycorrhizal fungi and the maintenance of decomposition processes after disturbance.