Aim The formation of thermokarst lakes could make a large amount of carbon accessible to microbial degradation, potentially intensifying the permafrost carbon‐climate feedback via carbon dioxide/methane emissions. Because of their diverse functional roles, prokaryotes could strongly mediate biogeochemical cycles in thermokarst lakes. However, little is known about the large‐scale patterns and drivers of these communities. Loca...

Mineralization of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in thermokarst lakes plays a non‐negligible role in the permafrost carbon (C) cycle, but remains poorly understood due to its complex interactions with external C and nutrient inputs (i.e., aquatic priming and nutrient effects). Based on large‐scale lake sampling and laboratory incubations, in combination with 13 C‐stable‐isotope labeling, optical spectroscopy, and high‐throughp...

Significant attention has been given to the way in which the soil nitrogen (N) cycle responds to permafrost thaw in recent years, yet little is known about anaerobic N transformations in thermokarst lakes, which account for more than one‐third of thermokarst landforms across permafrost regions. Based on the N isotope dilution and tracing technique, combined with qPCR and high‐throughput sequencing, we presented large‐scale mea...

Ecosystem carbon (C) dynamics after permafrost thaw depends on more than just climate change since soil nutrient status may also impact ecosystem C balance. It has been advocated that nitrogen (N) release upon permafrost thaw could promote plant growth and thus offset soil C loss. However, compared with the widely accepted C‐N interactions, little is known about the potential role of soil phosphorus (P) availability. We combin...

Permafrost thaw could trigger the release of greenhouse gases through microbial decomposition of the large quantities of carbon (C) stored within frozen soils. However, accurate evaluation of soil C emissions from thawing permafrost is still a big challenge, partly due to our inadequate understanding about the response of microbial communities and their linkage with soil C release upon permafrost thaw. Based on a large‐scale p...

Permafrost thaw could induce substantial carbon (C) emissions to the atmosphere, and thus trigger a positive feedback to climate warming. As the engine of biogeochemical cycling, soil microorganisms exert a critical role in mediating the direction and strength of permafrost C‐climate feedback. However, our understanding about the impacts of thermokarst (abrupt permafrost thaw) on microbial structure and function remains limite...