In NSW, there is an ongoing effort to restore and rehabilitate native Cumberland Plain woodland (CPW) ecosystems, particularly those impacted by invasive species. Soil microbes likely play an important role in supporting growth of plants in these woodland soils due to their typically low nutrient availability. For instance, mycorrhizal fungi form associations with roots of many CPW plant species. These fungi are important drivers of ecosystem productivity and carbon storage, yet we lack an understanding of what drives their distributions beyond broad generalisations of their roles in particular biomes. In addition, root pathogens are candidate drivers of dieback in many forest and woodland systems in Australia, with oomycetes receiving a significant amount of recent attention.
Field experimentation, combined with microscopic measures and high-throughput sequencing of soil and roots reveals patterns of changing abundance and species composition in mycorrhizal fungal and oomycete communities in response to soil properties and as trees age. In addition, our evidence from the Eucalyptus Free-Air Carbon Enrichment experiment (https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/hie/facilities/EucFACE) suggests that these changes may be exacerbated under future atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. More data are needed to identify the best-integrated approach to improve soil health and CPW restoration outcomes, particularly in the presence of additional threats associated with climate change and human activities.