Arctic Permafrost Active Layer Detachments Stimulate Microbial Activity and Degradation of Soil Organic Matter

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• 作者：Brent G. Pautler ; Andr J. Simpson ; David J. Mcnally ; Scott F. Lamoureux ; Myrna J. Simpson
• 刊名：Environmental Science & Technology
• 出版年：2010
• 出版时间：June 1, 2010
• 年：2010
• 卷：44
• 期：11
• 页码：4076-4082
• 全文大小：235K
• 年卷期：v.44,no.11(June 1, 2010)
• ISSN：1520-5851

文摘

Large quantities of soil organic carbon in Arctic permafrost zones are becoming increasingly unstable due to a warming climate. High temperatures and substantial rainfall in July 2007 in the Canadian High Arctic resulted in permafrost active layer detachments (ALDs) that redistributed soils throughout a small watershed in Nunavut, Canada. Molecular biomarkers and NMR spectroscopy were used to measure how ALDs may lead to microbial activity and decomposition of previously unavailable soil organic matter (SOM). Increased concentrations of extracted bacterial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and large contributions from bacterial protein/peptides in the NMR spectra at recent ALDs suggest increased microbial activity. PLFAs were appreciably depleted in a soil sample where ALDs occurred prior to 2003. However an enrichment of bacterial derived peptidoglycan was observed by ¹H−¹³C heteronuclear multiple quantum coherence (HMQC) and ¹H diffusion edited (DE) NMR and enhanced SOM degradation was observed by ¹³C solid-state NMR. These data suggest that a previous rise in microbial activity, as is currently underway at the recent ALD site, led to degradation and depletion of labile SOM components. Therefore, this study indicates that ALDs may amplify climate change due to the release of labile SOM substrates from thawing High Arctic permafrost.