Herbivore Influence on Post-Fire California Sage Scrub Plant and Soil Microbial Assemblages
, Caitlin Halligan 1, Lilleana Thomey 1, Kyra Madunich-Arévalo 1, Celia Parry 1, Riley Scaff 2, Rowan Macy 1, Ivy Jones 2, Erin Halligan 1, Ana Jaramillo 1, Amy N. T. Phan 2, Sindimwo Thierry 1, Edward J. Crane III 1 and André R. O. Cavalcanti 1
Izabella Olejniczak
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The reviewed manuscript has many innovative features. There are few publications on abiotic and biotic relationships at different levels. There are especially few publications describing the complicated relationships between organisms. In this respect, the reviewed manuscript fits perfectly into such considerations.
Methods
Please give information of total number of taken soil samples and plant samples. It would be worth to take samples in 2017 after fire- it was possible?
It would be worth to give information about character of the fire. Based on the photos, it can be concluded that the vegetation was completely burned out, which means that it would be a very severe fire
Results
It would be worth giving a taxonomy of fungi and bacteria since genetic studies have been carried out. Different groups of microorganisms may react differently to fires and appear differently in the regeneration process. In this regard, one of the hypotheses presented by the authors assumes changes in the communities of microorganisms.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Reviewer 1
The reviewed manuscript has many innovative features. There are few publications on abiotic and biotic relationships at different levels. There are especially few publications describing the complicated relationships between organisms. In this respect, the reviewed manuscript fits perfectly into such considerations.
Thank you. We appreciate this comment.
Methods
Please give information of total number of taken soil samples and plant samples. It would be worth to take samples in 2017 after fire- it was possible? We added information highlighting the total number of soil samples collected. It would have been possible to collect soil samples immediately after the fire. However, we did not do that, though I wish we had. In the manuscript we highlight research done by some of the authors of this manuscript (see Cox et al. 2022) that did show that soil surface microbes are not significantly impacted by the direct effects of fire.
It would be worth to give information about character of the fire. Based on the photos, it can be concluded that the vegetation was completely burned out, which means that it would be a very severe fire
Okay, we added some wording in the final paragraph in section 2.1 to talk about this. We added information we felt comfortable providing. No formal assessments of fire intensity were taken.
Results
It would be worth giving a taxonomy of fungi and bacteria since genetic studies have been carried out. Different groups of microorganisms may react differently to fires and appear differently in the regeneration process. In this regard, one of the hypotheses presented by the authors assumes changes in the communities of microorganisms. I am having a hard time interpreting what specifically you are requesting. Our analyses examined all fungal taxa in the soil. We found that fungal assemblages did not differ between control and experimental treatments, which in our minds directly addresses our hypotheses. All of our data is freely accessible through GeneBank allowing other researchers to explore these topics. If we had found differences, we would have explored which taxa were driving differences, but since assemblages did not differ, we did not run these analyses. We hope this is a satisfactory response. If I am missing something, I am willing to modify the manuscript as needed.
Reviewer 2 Report
The topic is meaningful and focused, and the paper is well organized and presented. I would like to give some suggestions to further improve the quality of the paper.
1. The map of the study site relative to America should be shown in Fig.1, so that international readers can better understand the location.
2. Statistical analysis is an important method in this study. If it can be expressed in a flow chart, it will be helpful for readers to understand.
3. The discussion section can be divided into several points, which is good for reading and understanding.
4. The limitations and future directions of the paper should be discussed.
5. Please link all of your figures or tables to your discussion section.
6. It is not usually necessary to list references in the conclusions.
Author Response
see attached
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
