Permafrost thaw driven changes in hydrology and vegetation cover increase trace gas emissions and climate forcing in Stordalen Mire from 1970 to 2014.

Permafrost thaw increases active layer thickness, changes landscape hydrology and influences vegetation species composition. These changes alter belowground microbial and geochemical processes, affecting production, consumption and net emission rates of climate forcing trace gases. Net carbon dioxide (CO) and methane (CH) fluxes determine the radiative forcing contribution from these climate-sensitive ecosystems.

Coupling plant litter quantity to a novel metric for litter quality explains C storage changes in a thawing permafrost peatland.

Permafrost thaw is a major potential feedback source to climate change as it can drive the increased release of greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO ) and methane (CH ). This carbon release from the decomposition of thawing soil organic material can be mitigated by increased net primary productivity (NPP) caused by warming, increasing atmospheric CO , and plant community transition. However, the net effect on C storage also depends on how these plant community changes alter plant litter quantity, quality, and decomposition rates.

Diverse sediment microbiota shape methane emission temperature sensitivity in Arctic lakes.

Northern post-glacial lakes are significant, increasing sources of atmospheric carbon through ebullition (bubbling) of microbially-produced methane (CH) from sediments. Ebullitive CH flux correlates strongly with temperature, reflecting that solar radiation drives emissions. However, here we show that the slope of the temperature-CH flux relationship differs spatially across two post-glacial lakes in Sweden.

Functional capacities of microbial communities to carry out large scale geochemical processes are maintained during ex situ anaerobic incubation.

Mechanisms controlling CO2 and CH4 production in wetlands are central to understanding carbon cycling and greenhouse gas exchange. However, the volatility of these respiration products complicates quantifying their rates of production in the field. Attempts to circumvent the challenges through closed system incubations, from which gases cannot escape, have been used to investigate bulk in situ geochemistry.