WIDESPREAD CAPACITY FOR DENITRIFICATION ACROSS A BOREAL FOREST LANDSCAPE.

A warming climate combined with frequent and severe fires cause permafrost to thaw, especially in the region of discontinuous permafrost, where soil temperatures may only be a few degrees below 0 °C. Soil thaw releases carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) into the actively cycling pools, and whereas C emissions following permafrost thaw are well documented, the fates of N remain unclear. Denitrification could release N from ecosystems as nitrous oxide (NO) or nitrogen gas (N), but the contributions of these processes to the high-latitude N cycle remain uncertain.