ISOGENIE

Three sequential U.S. Department of Energy-funded (Genomic Science Program) projects* focus on understanding the biological and earth system science aspects of CO 2 and CH 4 cycling at "the leading edge of global change" - a subarctic wetland system where climate change-induced permafrost melt is transforming methane sinks into sources. Our research goals are: (1) to discover functional relations for scaling microbial community composition and metabolism to the ecosystem biogeochemistry of CO 2 and CH 4; (2) to learn how these relations are affected by shifting climate, hydrology, and vegetation, and (3) apply this knowledge to better understand and predict changing carbon budgets (especially the fate of old versus new carbon) in subarctic ecosystems already experiencing climate change... To achieve these goals we focus high-resolution, cutting-edge microbial and biogeochemical investigations across in situ permafrost thaw gradient and the adjacent post-glacial lakes. Our results are..