@article{FrankFahleYergeauGreeretal.2014,
  author    = {Frank-Fahle, Beatrice A. and Yergeau, Etienne and Greer, Charles W. and Lantuit, Hugues and Wagner, Dirk},
  title     = {Microbial functional potential and community composition in permafrost-affected soils of the NW canadian arctic},
  series = {PLoS one},
  volume    = {9},
  journal   = {PLoS one},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {PLoS},
  address   = {San Fransisco},
  issn      = {1932-6203},
  doi       = {10.1371/journal.pone.0084761},
  pages     = {12},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Permafrost-affected soils are among the most obvious ecosystems in which current microbial controls on organic matter decomposition are changing as a result of global warming. Warmer conditions in polygonal tundra will lead to a deepening of the seasonal active layer, provoking changes in microbial processes and possibly resulting in exacerbated carbon degradation under increasing anoxic conditions. To identify current microbial assemblages in carbon rich, water saturated permafrost environments, four polygonal tundra sites were investigated on Herschel Island and the Yukon Coast, Western Canadian Arctic. Ion Torrent sequencing of bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA amplicons revealed the presence of all major microbial soil groups and indicated a local, vertical heterogeneity of the polygonal tundra soil community with increasing depth. Microbial diversity was found to be highest in the surface layers, decreasing towards the permafrost table. Quantitative PCR analysis of functional genes involved in carbon and nitrogen-cycling revealed a high functional potential in the surface layers, decreasing with increasing active layer depth. We observed that soil properties driving microbial diversity and functional potential varied in each study site. These results highlight the small-scale heterogeneity of geomorphologically comparable sites, greatly restricting generalizations about the fate of permafrost-affected environments in a warming Arctic.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SchaeferLantuitRomanovskyetal.2014,
  author    = {Schaefer, Kevin and Lantuit, Hugues and Romanovsky, Vladimir E. and Schuur, Edward A. G. and Witt, Ronald},
  title     = {The impact of the permafrost carbon feedback on global climate},
  series = {Environmental research letters},
  volume    = {9},
  journal   = {Environmental research letters},
  number    = {8},
  publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.},
  address   = {Bristol},
  issn      = {1748-9326},
  doi       = {10.1088/1748-9326/9/8/085003},
  pages     = {9},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Degrading permafrost can alter ecosystems, damage infrastructure, and release enough carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) to influence global climate. The permafrost carbon feedback (PCF) is the amplification of surface warming due to CO2 and CH4 emissions from thawing permafrost. An analysis of available estimates PCF strength and timing indicate 120 +/- 85 Gt of carbon emissions from thawing permafrost by 2100. This is equivalent to 5.7 +/- 4.0\% of total anthropogenic emissions for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenario and would increase global temperatures by 0.29 +/- 0.21 degrees C or 7.8 +/- 5.7\%. For RCP4.5, the scenario closest to the 2 degrees C warming target for the climate change treaty, the range of cumulative emissions in 2100 from thawing permafrost decreases to between 27 and 100 Gt C with temperature increases between 0.05 and 0.15 degrees C, but the relative fraction of permafrost to total emissions increases to between 3\% and 11\%. Any substantial warming results in a committed, long-term carbon release from thawing permafrost with 60\% of emissions occurring after 2100, indicating that not accounting for permafrost emissions risks overshooting the 2 degrees C warming target. Climate projections in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), and any emissions targets based on those projections, do not adequately account for emissions from thawing permafrost and the effects of the PCF on global climate. We recommend the IPCC commission a special assessment focusing on the PCF and its impact on global climate to supplement the AR5 in support of treaty negotiation.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{FritzHerzschuhWetterichetal.2012,
  author    = {Fritz, Michael and Herzschuh, Ulrike and Wetterich, Sebastian and Lantuit, Hugues and De Pascale, Gregory P. and Pollard, Wayne H. and Schirrmeister, Lutz},
  title     = {Late glacial and holocene sedimentation, vegetation, and climate history from easternmost Beringia (northern Yukon Territory, Canada)},
  series = {Quaternary research : an interdisciplinary journal},
  volume    = {78},
  journal   = {Quaternary research : an interdisciplinary journal},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {San Diego},
  issn      = {0033-5894},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.yqres.2012.07.007},
  pages     = {549 -- 560},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {Beringian climate and environmental history are poorly characterized at its easternmost edge. Lake sediments from the northern Yukon Territory have recorded sedimentation, vegetation, summer temperature and precipitation changes since similar to 16 cal ka BP. Herb-dominated tundra persisted until similar to 14.7 cal ka BP with mean July air temperatures <= 5 degrees C colder and annual precipitation 50 to 120 mm lower than today. Temperatures rapidly increased during the Bolling/Allerod interstadial towards modern conditions, favoring establishment of Betula-Salix shrub tundra. Pollen-inferred temperature reconstructions recorded a pronounced Younger Dryas stadial in east Beringia with a temperature drop of similar to 1.5 degrees C (similar to 2.5 to 3.0 degrees C below modern conditions) and low net precipitation (90 to 170 mm) but show little evidence of an early Holocene thermal maximum in the pollen record. Sustained low net precipitation and increased evaporation during early Holocene warming suggest a moisture-limited spread of vegetation and an obscured summer temperature maximum. Northern Yukon Holocene moisture availability increased in response to a retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet, postglacial sea level rise, and decreasing summer insolation that in turn led to establishment of Alnus-Berula shrub tundra from similar to 5 cal ka BP until present, and conversion of a continental climate into a coastal-maritime climate near the Beaufort Sea.},
  language  = {en}
}