The arctic region not only provides us with beautiful sceneries that sustain reindeer husbandry and harbour unique biodiversity; it provides one of its most important services by storing about twice the amount of carbon that is currently in the atmosphere in its soils. Climate warming will most likely stimulate the release of a large part of the carbon from these soils, which may reinforce climate warming.
ALTER - Abisko Long-Term Ecological Research
An important way in which plants affect carbon storage is by their interactions with symbiotic soil fungi – mycorrhiza –, as they have a great ability to store carbon belowground, although the way in which they do this depends on the plant species. Changes in vegetation composition therefore will also determine which types of fungi can be found in the landscape.
