Root‐associated fungi and carbon storage in Arctic ecosystems

Permafrost soils contain approximately 1980 Pg carbon (C; Schuur et al., 2015), more than twice the size of the atmospheric carbon (C) pool. Thawing permafrost, subsequent changes in hydrological conditions and resulting microbial decomposition of previously frozen organic C is one of the most significant potential feedbacks from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere in a changing climate (Schuur et al., 2008; Hugelius et al., 2012; Hope & Schaefer, 2016): such changes are now occurring at a dramatic pace over large regions of the Northern Hemisphere.