High latitude ecosystems are experiencing vegetation changes in response to long-term warming. The trend is often in the direction of increased productivity and vegetation cover (‘Arctic greening’); however, we also observe declines in vegetation productivity and cover due to additional stress and damage associated with abiotic and biotic extreme events (‘Arctic browning’). There are many potential drivers for Arctic browning events, all of which can have detrimental consequences to vegetation with cascading effects for other organisms and ecosystem processes, most notably for carbon exchange. Microorganisms are abundant in these ecosystems, significantly contributing to the carbon cycle. In this project we will evaluate the microbial diversity and changes following browning using sequencing data.