Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Biogeochemistry
Author ORCID Identifier
Jenna M. Ross https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4076-1641
Karen H. Beard https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4997-2495
Katharine C. Kelsey https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4631-8538
Matteo Petit Bon https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9829-8324
A. Joshua Leffler https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3389-2493
Publisher
Springer Dordrecht
Publication Date
4-30-2026
Journal Article Version
Accepted Manuscript
First Page
1
Last Page
45
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Abstract
Warming, sea-level rise, and changing herbivory patterns are affecting ecosystem processes in northern coastal soils, including carbon and nitrogen cycling, although their combined effects are poorly understood. We studied the impact of these changes in a full-factorial microcosm experiment using four distinct soil types from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta of western Alaska. Soil was collected from three coastal wetlands, which differ in flooding frequency and use by migratory geese, and one rarely-flooded upland tundra used by geese in late summer. Microcosms containing these soils were incubated for 16 weeks at 10°C or 18°C, with or without three short-term floods, and with or without goose feces. We measured soil carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions weekly and net ammonification during the experiment. While higher temperature generally increased CO2 and CH4 emissions and net ammonification, and feces addition increased CO2 emissions, the impact of flooding on both gas fluxes and net ammonification differed among soil types. Flooding suppressed soil CO2 emissions in the historically least-frequently flooded wetland and upland tundra but had no effect on the other two wetland soils. Conversely, under warmer temperatures, flooding increased CH4 emissions in the most-frequently flooded wetland but decreased CH4 emissions in the tundra soil. Flooding also decreased net ammonification in the most-frequently flooded wetland, but increased net ammonification in the tundra soil. Our results suggest that climate change-related effects, particularly flooding, interact with soil-specific conditions that may amplify or dampen carbon loss and net ammonification in coastal Arctic soils depending on landscape position.
Recommended Citation
Ross, J.M., Beard, K.H., Kelsey, K.C. et al. Climate change-related effects on carbon emissions and net ammonification across lowland to upland soils from a high-latitude coastal ecosystem. Biogeochemistry (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-026-01336-w