A paper published this week in Nature by international authors including U of G integrative biologist Merritt Turetsky identifies microbes in northern Canadian permafrost and their potential role in releasing greenhouse gases under permafrost thaw.

Understanding those microbial processes in permafrost and warmer, post-thaw soils is key to predicting release rates of greenhouse gases such as methane that are driving climate change, said Turetsky.

The Nature study used molecular techniques along with data from field sites established by the Guelph researcher in Alaska a decade ago to monitor permafrost thawing. More than one-fifth of Earth’s land mass is underlain by permafrost whose vast carbon stores represent the largest potential transfer of carbon into the atmosphere under a warming climate.