Permafrost soils contain more than 1300 Pg of carbon (C), twice the amount of C in the atmosphere. Temperatures in higher latitudes are increasing, inducing permafrost thaw and subsequent microbial decomposition of previously frozen C, which will most likely feed back to climate warming through release of the greenhouse gases CO2 […]
Leaf litter decomposition plays a major role in nutrient dynamics in forested streams. The chemical composition of litter affects its processing by microorganisms, which obtain nutrients from litter and from the water column. The balance of these fluxes is not well known, because they occur simultaneously and thus are difficult […]
Although the temperature sensitivity (Q10) of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition has been widely studied, the estimate substantially depends on the methods used with specific assumptions. Here we compared several commonly used methods (i.e., one-pool (1P) model, two-discrete-pool (2P) model, three-discrete-pool (3P) model, and time-for-substrate (T4S) Q10 method) plus a […]
Microbial necromass is an important source of stabilized organic matter in soil, yet the decomposition dynamics of necromass constituents have not been adequately characterized. This includes DNA, a nutrient-rich molecule that when released into the environment as extracellular DNA (eDNA) can be readily used by soil microorganisms. However, the ecological […]
Understanding the response of permafrost microbial communities to climate warming is crucial for evaluating ecosystem feedbacks to global change. This study investigated soil bacterial and archaeal communities by Illumina MiSeq sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons across a permafrost thaw gradient at different depths in Alaska with thaw progression for […]
Soil is a complex ecosystem with diverse microenvironments ranging from bulk soil with low quality substrates and no or very limited microbial growth, to high quality C-rich environments near decomposing litter and rhizosphere where microbial growth and death rates are high. Soil contains different microbial communities, supports varying microbial activities […]