Soil chemistry, not age is the primary driving factor correlated to differences between Pleistocene-aged and Holocene-aged permafrost microbiomes

The transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene geological epoch (P-H transition) was accompanied by a rapid, extensive global climate and ecosystem changes. Signs of these changes have been preserved in permafrost. Despite the presence of well-documented signals of change in vegetation and faunal community structure at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, it is still unknown whether these signals of change have also been preserved in soil microbial community structure. By understanding the relation between preserved soil parameters in permafrost and relic microbial community structure that formed during the P-H transition, we are trying to predict how soil microbes are going to respond to ecosystem changes in a warmer Arctic.