The Miombo woodlands of southern Africa are rich in biodiversity and provide important ecosystem goods and services. Mycorrhizae fungi are ecologically key important mutualistic association in the functioning and sustainability of miombo woodlands. Fire is one of the main disturbance factors in miombo, key to maintain some ecosystem functions. Despite the importance of fires in miombo woodlands, global climate change and human population growth are imposing changes in their regimes with a variety of impacts yet to be understood. The aim of this study was to investigate how different fire regimes affect the mycorrhizae fungi community, in terms of root colonization (RC) and spores density (SD) of tree species of miombo of Beira Corridor, Central Mozambique. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data were separated into five fire regimes: high frequency and high intensity (HfHi), high frequency and low intensity (HfLi), intermediate frequency and intermediate intensity (Ifii), low frequency and high intensity (LfHi), and low frequency and low intensity (LfLi). Root and soil samples were taken in the wet and dry seasons for the respective five fire regimes. Root staining and spore extraction method were used. Our findings indicate that changes in fire regimes can alter mycorrhizae fungi status. Overall, we found high level of RC in Ifii and LfLi fire regimes for wet season (16.2 and 19.2% respectively). For the dry season the RC was 26%. Furthermore, the highest values of SD was observed both for wet (277.5 spores) and dry season (225 spores). For the same fire frequency the RC and SD values tends to increases when the fire intensity decreases. There were no observed seasonal significant differences for RC. However, SD showed significant differences in LfHi fire regime. This study provide insight for sustainable management and restoration of miombo woodlands to maintain critical ecosystem services.

Key words: Fire frequency, fire intensity, root colonization, spores density, seasonality