Investigation of microbial communities along a natural temperature gradient in Iceland

We exploited the longest in situ warming experiment (more than 50 years) to determine how climate warming on a decadal to centennial timescale affects ecosystem soil carbon loss via its influence over soil microbial physiology. The experiment uses natural geothermal activity in a sub-arctic grassland in Iceland to create gradients of warming from ambient temperature to + 6 ºC, providing a unique opportunity to assess long-term responses of microbial and ecosystem processes to warming in a region that holds massive carbon stocks and is vulnerable to rapid temperature change.