Concluding Remarks
This study shows that winter warming rapidly alters fungal functional
gene composition and potential fungal interactions in Alaskan tundra
soil, which are closely linked to the changes of soil hydrological
conditions and plant productivity. Higher fungal C degradation
capacities under warming suggest positive feedback of fungal communities
to a warmer climate because an increase in R ecois observed, signifying the potential importance of fungi in
de-stabilizing tundra soil C storage.
Although it is uncertain whether
these conclusions are ubiquitous in other arctic tundra ecosystems due
to the limited sampling size and small-scale spatial variability of this
study, it represents an important step forward to understand the fungal
functional potentials changed by warming. Overall, this study
demonstrates fungal community vulnerability to climate warming and
provides new insights into the fungi-mediated C storage in tundra soil.
Therefore, incorporating fungi into current Earth system models may help
predict the future fate of global C storage.