Yoshihiro Iijima, Mie University, Graduate School of Bioresources, Tsu, Japan, Tetsuya Hiyama, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Tomonori Sato, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, Go Iwahana, University of Alaska Fairbanks, International Arctic Research Center, Fairbanks, AK, United States, Ayumi Kotani, Nagoya University, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya, Japan, Hotaek PARK, JAMSTEC, Yokosuka, Japan, Hiroki Takakura, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, Alexander Fedorov, Melnikov permafrost institute, The Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia and Trofim C Maximov, Institute for Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Science, Yakutsk, Russia