Yukon Permafrost Soil Sequencing

Anthropogenic climate change and increasing industrial activity is impacting Northern Canada and accelerating permafrost thaw. While research into the impact of permafrost thaw on microbial community dynamics is burgeoning, there has been little investigation into how human activities alter the resident microbial communities of permafrost. This study suggests a strong microbial community response to anthropogenic permafrost disturbance under field conditions and that this response occurs prior to shifts in the measured soil edaphic parameters. Both anthropogenic and natural disturbances to permafrost may induce significant microbial community changes, impacting carbon budgets and carbon feedbacks in permafrost-affected soils.