Editing Permafrost (section)

=== Ecology ===
[[File:Peat Plateau Complex.jpg|thumb|A peat plateau complex south of [[Fort Simpson]], [[Northwest Territories]].]]
Only plants with shallow [[root]]s can survive in the presence of permafrost. [[Black spruce]] tolerates limited rooting zones, and dominates [[flora]] where permafrost is extensive. Likewise, animal [[species]] which live in dens and [[burrow]]s have their habitat constrained by the permafrost, and these constraints also have a secondary impact on interactions between species within the [[ecosystem]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/volume_1/picea/mariana.htm |title=Black Spruce |publisher=[[USDA]] |access-date=27 September 2023 }}</ref>

[[File:Storflaket.JPG|thumb|left|Cracks forming at the edges of the [[Storflaket]] permafrost bog in Sweden]]
While permafrost soil is frozen, it is not completely inhospitable to [[microorganism]]s, though their numbers can vary widely, typically from 1 to 1000&nbsp;million per gram of soil.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hansen |display-authors=etal | year = 2007 | title = Viability, diversity and composition of the bacterial community in a high Arctic permafrost soil from Spitsbergen, Northern Norway | journal = Environmental Microbiology | volume = 9 | issue = 11| pages = 2870–2884 | doi=10.1111/j.1462-2920.2007.01403.x| pmid =  17922769|bibcode=2007EnvMi...9.2870H }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Yergeau |display-authors=etal  | year = 2010 | title = The functional potential of high Arctic permafrost revealed by metagenomic sequencing, qPCR and microarray analyses | journal = The ISME Journal | volume = 4 | issue = 9| pages = 1206–1214 | doi=10.1038/ismej.2010.41| pmid =  20393573| doi-access = free |bibcode=2010ISMEJ...4.1206Y }}</ref>
The [[permafrost carbon cycle]] (Arctic Carbon Cycle) deals with the transfer of carbon from permafrost soils to terrestrial vegetation and microbes, to the atmosphere, back to vegetation, and finally back to permafrost soils through burial and sedimentation due to cryogenic processes. Some of this carbon is transferred to the ocean and other portions of the globe through the global carbon cycle. The cycle includes the exchange of [[carbon dioxide]] and [[methane]] between terrestrial components and the atmosphere, as well as the transfer of carbon between land and water as methane, [[dissolved organic carbon]], [[dissolved inorganic carbon]], [[particulate inorganic carbon]] and [[particulate organic carbon]].<ref name=mcguire>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1890/08-2025.1 |author1=McGuire, A. D. |author2=Anderson, L. G. |author3=Christensen, T. R. |author4=Dallimore, S. |author5=Guo, L. |author6=Hayes, D. J. |author7=Heimann, M. |author8=Lorenson, T. D. |author9=Macdonald, R. W. |author10=Roulet, N. |title=Sensitivity of the carbon cycle in the Arctic to climate change |journal=Ecological Monographs |volume=79 |issue=4 |pages=523–555 |year=2009 |bibcode=2009EcoM...79..523M |hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-000E-D87B-C |s2cid=1779296 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Most of the bacteria and fungi found in permafrost cannot be cultured in the laboratory, but the identity of the microorganisms can be revealed by [[DNA]]-based techniques. For instance, analysis of 16S [[rRNA]] genes from late [[Pleistocene]] permafrost samples in eastern [[Siberia]]'s [[Kolyma Lowland]] revealed eight [[phylotype]]s, which belonged to the phyla [[Actinomycetota]] and [[Pseudomonadota]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kudryashova|first1=E. B.|last2=Chernousova|first2=E. Yu.|last3=Suzina|first3=N. E.|last4=Ariskina|first4=E. V.|last5=Gilichinsky|first5=D. A.|date=2013-05-01|title=Microbial diversity of Late Pleistocene Siberian permafrost samples|journal=Microbiology |volume=82|issue=3|pages=341–351 |doi=10.1134/S0026261713020082|s2cid=2645648 }}</ref>  "Muot-da-Barba-Peider", an alpine permafrost site in eastern Switzerland, was found to host a diverse microbial community in 2016. Prominent bacteria groups included phylum [[Acidobacteriota]], [[Actinomycetota]], AD3, [[Bacteroidota]], [[Chloroflexota]], [[Gemmatimonadota]], OD1, [[Nitrospirota]], [[Planctomycetota]], [[Pseudomonadota]], and [[Verrucomicrobiota]], in addition to [[eukaryotic]] fungi like [[Ascomycota]], [[Basidiomycota]], and [[Zygomycota]]. In the presently living species, scientists observed a variety of adaptations for sub-zero conditions, including reduced and anaerobic metabolic processes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Frey|first1=Beat|last2=Rime|first2=Thomas|last3=Phillips|first3=Marcia|last4=Stierli|first4=Beat|last5=Hajdas|first5=Irka|last6=Widmer|first6=Franco|last7=Hartmann|first7=Martin|date=March 2016|editor-last=Margesin|editor-first=Rosa|title=Microbial diversity in European alpine permafrost and active layers|journal=FEMS Microbiology Ecology |volume=92|issue=3|pages=fiw018|doi=10.1093/femsec/fiw018|pmid=26832204 |doi-access=free}}</ref>