{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T16:31:01Z","timestamp":1785429061655,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,22]],"date-time":"2026-06-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782086400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Study on the Carbon Sequestration Capacity of Forests and the Construction of Carbon Sequestration Monitoring System in Guizhou Province","award":["GZTHJC-2023-04"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GZTHJC-2023-04"]}]},{"name":"2023 National Nature Reserve Grant Project of Dashahe National Nature Reserve in Guizhou Province","award":["2023009390455714091-001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023009390455714091-001"]}]},{"name":"Research on the Ecological Adaptability of the Endangered and Rare Plant Cathaya Argyrophylla","award":["Qian Lin Ke He [2024]06"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Qian Lin Ke He [2024]06"]}]},{"name":"Forestry Research Project (Subject) of Guizhou Province: Analysis of the Canopy Structure of Wild Cathaya Argyrophylla in Guizhou Dashanhe National Nature Reserve","award":["Qian Lin Ke He J [2024]13"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Qian Lin Ke He J [2024]13"]}]},{"name":"2024 Guizhou Science and Technology Innovation Talent Team Construction Project: Wildlife Innovation Team of the Forestry college of Guizhou University","award":["Qiankeherencai CXTD[2025]053"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Qiankeherencai CXTD[2025]053"]}]},{"award":["Qiankeherencai CXTD[2025]053"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Qiankeherencai CXTD[2025]053"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02wmsc916","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Wildfire can alter soil organic carbon (SOC) pools and microbial pathways of carbon stabilization, but depth-dependent links between microbial necromass and stable carbon pools remain unclear. We investigated a wildfire-severity gradient in a subtropical coniferous forest in Guizhou, China, including four severity classes (unburned, light, moderate, and severe) and two soil layers (0\u201320 and 20\u201340 cm). We measured easily oxidizable organic carbon (EOC), recalcitrant organic carbon (ROC), SOC, amino sugars, microbial necromass carbon (MNC), extracellular enzyme activities, and carbohydrate-active enzyme (CAZy) functional indices. MNC peaked under moderate wildfire in both layers, increasing by 73.8% and 85.1% in the topsoil and subsoil, respectively, relative to unburned plots. After accounting for soil physicochemical properties and wildfire severity, MNC was more strongly associated with ROC and SOC in the topsoil than in the subsoil. Extracellular enzyme activities were positively associated with amino sugars and necromass pools, whereas CAZy composite indices showed weaker relationships that did not persist after false discovery rate correction. Exploratory path analysis suggested that the EOC\u2013NAG\u2013MNC\u2013ROC\u2013SOC chain was more pronounced in the topsoil, while the subsoil showed weaker chained associations and stronger direct EOC\u2013MNC and EOC\u2013ROC links. Overall, microbial necromass was associated with depth-dependent post-fire carbon stabilization.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms14061380","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,22]],"date-time":"2026-06-22T09:49:55Z","timestamp":1782121795000},"page":"1380","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Microbial Necromass and Extracellular Enzyme Activities Are Associated with Depth-Dependent Soil Carbon Stabilization Along a Wildfire-Severity Gradient"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Shaqian","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education), College of Life Sciences, Institute of Agro-Bioengineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6618-8630","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rui","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Forestry, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"165001","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2023.165001","article-title":"Fire effects on soil carbon cycling pools in forest ecosystems: A global meta-analysis","volume":"895","author":"Cheng","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sci. 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