Cryptogams as moderators of soil temperature and carbon cycling in cold biomes: now and in future

Processes of carbon and nutrient turnover in cold biomes are triggered by soil temperature. The presence and thickness of cryptogams (bryophytes and lichens) reduces the temperature of soil. Due to their complexity, processes of carbon cycling are usually studied via modeling. Although modern models of carbon cycling include estimates on soil temperature as a function of air temperature, the impact of cryptogams as thermal insulators is not considered, leading to flawed estimations of carbon cycling in the cryptogam-dominated biomes. The aim of this research is to reveal how cryptogams in (sub-)arctic regions affect soil temperature regimes and vegetation-atmosphere carbon cycle, under present and future climate. I shall develop a model predicting temperature under the cryptogam turf, as a function of air temperature, precipitation and species traits. I will couple my model together with data on cryptogam distribution in (sub-)arctic, to an existing model of a cold biome carbon turnover, and, therefore, correct the calculations of soil temperature, done by this model, for the sites dominated by cryptogams. This will be done for current and for future climate regimes. Therefore, the impact of cryptogams in carbon turnover process in (sub-)arctic ecosystems now and in future will be quantified.