秀色直播

Microbes across Earth鈥檚 coldest regions are becoming more active as glaciers,聽permafrost聽and sea ice thaw, accelerating carbon release and potentially amplifying climate change, according to a new international review聽from聽秀色直播.听

Drawing on data from polar and alpine environments worldwide, the researchers found that warming is driving faster microbial metabolism, increasing the breakdown of organic matter and聽the release of聽greenhouse gases such as聽carbon dioxide聽and聽methane聽into the atmosphere. Thawing soils may also free聽such聽contaminants as mercury, with implications that extend well beyond聽polar regions聽as聽harmful聽substances聽spread through rivers and food webs.听

鈥淐old-climate microbial ecosystems are poised for rapid change,鈥� said聽, study co-author and聽a doctoral聽student聽with the聽Polar Microbiology聽Lab聽led by聽Professor聽Lyle Whyte聽in the聽Department of Natural Resource Sciences. 鈥淲e know these changes will have significant consequences not only for the global carbon cycle, but also for human communities, food and income security, and toxin release. Yet these ecosystems are changing more quickly than聽they鈥檙e聽being understood.鈥澛�

Why thaw matters for microbes聽

The review synthesized dozens of studies from Arctic, Antarctic, alpine and subarctic environments to assess how temperature and nutrient availability聽are聽shaping聽microbial activity.听

Across regions, the researchers聽identified聽two consistent patterns: in聽frozen聽environments, microbial聽processes聽are聽constrained by both food and temperature. As soils thaw and nutrients move more freely through runoff, those constraints ease, allowing microbes to become more active, speed up carbon cycling and release stored contaminants.听

鈥淭hese聽two聽general聽truths聽about food and temperature聽emerged consistently across dozens of studies, dozens of ecosystems,鈥澛燬ugden聽said.听

The review also points to factors that can further influence outcomes, including oxygen availability and whether thawed landscapes become wetter or drier聽鈥撀燾onditions that can significantly alter how microbial communities behave.听

Data gaps limit climate predictions聽

While microbial processes are increasingly recognized as an important driver of climate feedback聽loops, the researchers noted聽that polar microbiology聽remains聽a聽relatively young聽field, with only about two decades of baseline data. These gaps make it difficult to project long-term climate impacts聽accurately.听

鈥淯nlike other fields where you can look back at a documented species over centuries, we聽don't聽have that long time horizon. Our first pieces of data come from the early 2000s,鈥澛燬ugden聽said.听

The review聽identified聽three additional limitations:聽

• Research tends to cluster in accessible regions with established infrastructure, leaving large parts of the Arctic and Antarctic understudied;聽
• Extreme weather and limited daylight restrict winter fieldwork; and聽
• Short-term funding often limits studies to only a few years, obscuring long-term trends.听

To improve climate projections, the authors call聽for聽greater聽coordination聽of聽global monitoring efforts聽and greater use of low-cost, widely accessible data collection methods.听

鈥淲e聽can鈥檛聽demand millions of dollars to study every site. But if聽you鈥檙e聽a polar researcher,聽you could聽bring a thermometer聽to the field. These small, consistent data points can make聽a big difference,鈥� said聽, study co-author and postdoctoral researcher聽in聽.听

鈥淢ore data of any kind is good data,鈥澛燬ugden聽added.听

About this study

鈥�,鈥� by聽Scott聽Sugden, Christina L Davis, Matthew W.听Quinn and Lyle G.听Whyte, was published in聽Nature Reviews聽-聽Microbiology.听

The study was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, the Canada Research Chair聽Program聽and the Canadian Space Agency.