Project description:Permafrost soils are large reservoirs of potentially labile carbon (C). Understanding the dynamics of C release from these soils requires us to account for the impact of wildfires, which are increasing in frequency as the climate changes. Boreal wildfires contribute to global emission of greenhouse gases (GHG-CO2, CH4 and N2O) and indirectly result in the thawing of near-surface permafrost. In this study, we aimed to define the impact of fire on soil microbial communities and metabolic potential for GHG fluxes in samples collected up to 1?m depth from an upland black spruce forest near Nome Creek, Alaska. We measured geochemistry, GHG fluxes, potential soil enzyme activities and microbial community structure via 16SrRNA gene and metagenome sequencing. We found that soil moisture, C content and the potential for respiration were reduced by fire, as were microbial community diversity and metabolic potential. There were shifts in dominance of several microbial community members, including a higher abundance of candidate phylum AD3 after fire. The metagenome data showed that fire had a pervasive impact on genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism, methanogenesis and the nitrogen cycle. Although fire resulted in an immediate release of CO2 from surface soils, our results suggest that the potential for emission of GHG was ultimately reduced at all soil depths over the longer term. Because of the size of the permafrost C reservoir, these results are crucial for understanding whether fire produces a positive or negative feedback loop contributing to the global C cycle.
Project description:The effects of two years' winter warming on the overall fungal functional gene structure in Alaskan tundra soil were studies by the GeoChip 4.2 Resuts showed that two years' winter warming changed the overall fungal functional gene structure in Alaskan tundra soil.
Project description:Carbon release from thawing permafrost soils could significantly exacerbate global warming as the active-layer deepens, exposing more carbon to decay. Plant community and soil properties provide a major control on this by influencing the maximum depth of thaw each summer (active-layer thickness; ALT), but a quantitative understanding of the relative importance of plant and soil characteristics, and their interactions in determine ALTs, is currently lacking. To address this, we undertook an extensive survey of multiple vegetation and edaphic characteristics and ALTs across multiple plots in four field sites within boreal forest in the discontinuous permafrost zone (NWT, Canada). Our sites included mature black spruce, burned black spruce and paper birch, allowing us to determine vegetation and edaphic drivers that emerge as the most important and broadly applicable across these key vegetation and disturbance gradients, as well as providing insight into site-specific differences. Across sites, the most important vegetation characteristics limiting thaw (shallower ALTs) were tree leaf area index (LAI), moss layer thickness and understory LAI in that order. Thicker soil organic layers also reduced ALTs, though were less influential than moss thickness. Surface moisture (0-6 cm) promoted increased ALTs, whereas deeper soil moisture (11-16 cm) acted to modify the impact of the vegetation, in particular increasing the importance of understory or tree canopy shading in reducing thaw. These direct and indirect effects of moisture indicate that future changes in precipitation and evapotranspiration may have large influences on ALTs. Our work also suggests that forest fires cause greater ALTs by simultaneously decreasing multiple ecosystem characteristics which otherwise protect permafrost. Given that vegetation and edaphic characteristics have such clear and large influences on ALTs, our data provide a key benchmark against which to evaluate process models used to predict future impacts of climate warming on permafrost degradation and subsequent feedback to climate.
Project description:Boreal toads (Anaxyrus boreas boreas) of the Southern Rocky Mountain population are declining due to the introduction of the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Boreal toads in Colorado are generally susceptible to Bd infection, but some Bd-tolerant populations persist in parts of the Southern Rocky Mountain and broader Eastern boreal toad population. We conducted a Bd challenge with lab-reared sibling toads from Bd-susceptible Colorado and purportedly Bd-tolerant Utah populations and report on transcriptomic responses to Bd during late infection in skin and liver tissue. Fewer immune genes were expressed in response to Bd in Colorado toads, but with greater upregulation compared to Utah toads, indicating a dysregulated immune response. Signatures of Bd-tolerance in Utah toads included more moderate upregulation in immune gene expression and a significantly enriched suite of gene functions related to innate and adaptive immune responses. Our transcriptomic results support the notion that Utah toads are tolerant to Bd, rather than resistant, carrying Bd loads similar to Colorado yet having a unique transcriptomic profile and presenting minimal clinical signs of chytridiomycosis. We conclude that closely related populations have divergent transcriptomic responses to Bd with a dysregulated immune response in Bd-susceptible toads.
Project description:Fire is a major natural disturbance factor in boreal forests, and the frequency of forest fires is predicted to increase due to climate change. Nitrogen (N) is a key determinant of carbon sequestration in boreal forests because the shortage of N limits tree growth. We studied changes in N pools and fluxes, and the overall N balance across a 155-year non stand-replacing fire chronosequence in sub-arctic Pinus sylvestris forests in Finland. Two years after the fire, total ecosystem N pool was 622 kg ha-1 of which 16% was in the vegetation, 8% in the dead biomass and 76% in the soil. 155 years after the fire, total N pool was 960 kg ha-1, with 27% in the vegetation, 3% in the dead biomass and 69% in the soil. This implies an annual accumulation rate of 2.28 kg ha-1 which was distributed equally between soil and biomass. The observed changes in N pools were consistent with the computed N balance +2.11 kg ha-1 yr-1 over the 155-year post-fire period. Nitrogen deposition was an important component of the N balance. The biological N fixation increased with succession and constituted 9% of the total N input during the 155 post-fire years. N2O fluxes were negligible (≤ 0.01 kg ha-1 yr-1) and did not differ among post-fire age classes. The number and intensity of microbial genes involved in N cycling were lower at the site 60 years after fire compared to the youngest and the oldest sites indicating potential differences in soil N cycling processes. The results suggest that in sub-arctic pine forests, the non-stand-replacing, intermediate-severity fires decrease considerably N pools in biomass but changes in soil and total ecosystem N pools are slight. Current fire-return interval does not seem to pose a great threat to ecosystem productivity and N status in these sub-arctic forests.
Project description:The paucity of studies on permafrost runoff generation processes, especially in mountain permafrost, constrains the understanding of permafrost hydrology and prediction of hydrological responses to permafrost degradation. This study investigated runoff generation processes, in addition to the contribution of summer thaw depth, soil temperature, soil moisture, and precipitation to streamflow in a small upland permafrost basin in the northern Tibetan Plateau. Results indicated that the thawing period and the duration of the zero-curtain were longer in permafrost of the northern Tibetan Plateau than in the Arctic. Limited snowmelt delayed the initiation of surface runoff in the peat permafrost in the study area. The runoff displayed intermittent generation, with the duration of most runoff events lasting less than 24 h. Precipitation without runoff generation was generally correlated with lower soil moisture conditions. Combined analysis suggested runoff generation in this region was controlled by soil temperature, thaw depth, precipitation frequency and amount, and antecedent soil moisture. This study serves as an important baseline to evaluate future environmental changes on the Tibetan Plateau.