Arctic soils Metagenome
Permafrost-affected soils are among the most obvious ecosystems in which current microbial controls on organic matter decomposition are changing as a result of global warming. We hypothesize that warmer and therefore wetter conditions in polygonal tundra will lead to important changes in microbial processes, resulting in exacerbated carbon degradation under increasing anoxic conditions. To test this hypothesis, four polygonal tundra sites were investigated on Herschel Island and the Yukon Coast, Western Canadian Arctic. Ion Torrent sequencing of bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA amplicons revealed the presence of all major microbial soil groups and indicated a local, vertical heterogeneity of the polygonal tundra soil community with increasing depth.