Ecosystem Warming Experiments


Abisko Bog

Contact:  Rien Aerts, Hans Cornelissen (VU University Amsterdam)

Email:  hans.cornelissen@falw.vu.nl

Site Location:  Abisko, Sweden (altitude 340 m)

Latitude:  68.35 decimal degrees

Longitude:  18.82 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature: -1.0 degrees Celsius 

Mean Annual Precipitation:  304 mm

Biome:  Tundra (general); Sub-arctic blanket peat bog (specific)

Experimental Manipulation:  Summer Warming (+1-2 ºC), Winter Warming (through snow accumulation, +25 cm), Spring warming (+2 ºC)  

Technology:  Open-top Chambers (2.5 m diameter)

Start Date:  June 2000 

End Date:  2015? 

Key Research Questions:

How do plant species and their functional composition, soil organic matter turnover and soil respiration, vegetation productivity, faunal and microbial communities, and carbon, nutrient and water cycles in sub-arctic peat bogs respond to climate warming?

What are the contributions and interactions of climate changes in different seasons (summer, winter, spring) with respect to changes in the above biotic and abiotic features of these peatlands?

Key Findings:

1.      While the dominant species, Sphagnum fuscum, has been shown to become more productive with experimental warming, there are complex interactions of this response with seasonal patterns, year-to-year variation, the vascular plant community and inherent peat dynamics

2.      The vascular plant community, notably Rubus chamaemorus and Andromeda polifolia, show strong patterns of advanced reproductive phenology in response to spring warming.

3.      The vascular plant community appears rather resistant to warming in the short term, but there are indications for several species that the long-term response may be significant. 

4.      Preliminary results show signs of increased soil respiration in warmed plots, but the long-term pattern is still uncertain.

Web Site: www.falw.vu.nl/iew/systeco

Abisko Bog Publications

 


Abraham's Lake

Environmental Sciences Research Centre

Contact:  Lisa Kellman

Email:  lkellman@stfx.ca

Site Location: Abraham's Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada

Latitude:  45.10 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -62.83 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  5.8 degrees Celsius

Mean Annual Precipitation:  1440 mm  

Biome:  Red Spruce Forest

Experimental Manipulation:  Soil warming - Trenching and Managed Forest Chronosequence (clearcut, 15 year planted, 15 year natural regeneration, 45 year, 80 year, +125 year old growth forest)

Technology:  Cables

Start Date:  Fall 2005

End Date:  Ongoing  

Key Research Questions:  

Changes in mineral soil C storage due to forest management, Sensitivity of SOC to changes in temperature.

 

Key Findings: 

 

Web Site: http://esrc.stfx.ca

 

Publications: 

 


BOREAS

 

Contact:  Stith Gower

Email:  stgower@facstaff.wisc.edu

Site Location: Thompson, Manitoba, Canada

Latitude:  55.88 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -98.33 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  

Mean Annual Precipitation:  

Biome:  Forest

Experimental Manipulation:  Air/soil warming  

Technology:  Otc, heated water

Start Date:  1993

End Date:  Ongoing  

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

BOREAS Publications

 

 


Buxton Climate Change Impacts Lab

 

Contact:  Ken Thompson

Email:  ken.thompson@sheffield.ac.uk

Site Location: Scheffield, UK

Latitude:  53.3 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -2 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  8 degrees Celsius

Mean Annual Precipitation:  1292 mm 

Biome:  Grassland

Experimental Manipulation:  Soil warming  

Technology:  Cables

Start Date:  November 1993

End Date:   

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Buxton Publications

 


Clocaenog UK (VULCAN)

 

Contact:  Bridget Emmett

Email:  bae@ceh.ac.uk

Site Location: Bangor, Wales, UK

Latitude:  53.05 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -3.47 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  8.9 degrees Celsius 

Mean Annual Precipitation:   1427 mm

Biome:  Heath ecosystem on organic soil

Experimental Manipulation:  +1 oC, 6-8 week summer drought

Technology:  Passive night time warming. Water: Automatic Rain out shelter

Start Date:  May 1997

End Date:  Ongoing 

Key Research Questions:  Effects on species, community and ecosystem function (plants, fauna, soil, microbes) (including GHG gas exchange and carbon storage)

 

Key Findings:  Repeated drought affects carbon storage, elevated temp. change species composition

 

Web Site:  www.vukcanproject.com

 

Clocaenog Publications

 


Ecocells

 

Contact:  Paul Verburg

Email:  pverburg@dri.edu

Site Location: Nevada, USA

Latitude:  39.5 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -119.78 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  

Mean Annual Precipitation:  

Biome:  Grassland

Experimental Manipulation:  

Technology: 

Start Date: 

End Date:  Ongoing 

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Ecocells Publications

 

 


Garraf (VULCAN)

 

Contact:  Josep Penuelas

Email:  josep.penuelas@uab.cat

Site Location:  Garraf Natural Park, Barcelona, Spain

Latitude:  41.3 decimal degrees

Longitude:  1.82 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  15.25 degrees Celsius  

Mean Annual Precipitation:  592 mm 

Biome:  Mediterranean shrubland

Experimental Manipulation:  +1 oC, 6-8 week winter/spring drought each year (3 replicates)

Technology:  Temp: Passive night time warming. Water: Automatic Rain out shelter  

Start Date:  February 1999 

End Date:  Ongoing  

Key Research Questions:  Effects on species, community and ecosystem function (plants, fauna, soil, microbes) (including GHG gas exchange and carbon storage)

 

Key Findings:  Elevated temperature change species composition and seedling establishment.

 

Web Site:  www.vulcanproject.com

 

Garraf Publications

 


Great Dun Fell

 

Contact:  Philip Ineson

Email:  j.ingram@ioh.ac.uk

Site Location: Penrith, UK

Latitude:  55.08 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -2.75 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  

Mean Annual Precipitation:  

Biome:  Grassland

Experimental Manipulation:  Soil warming

Technology:  Cables

Start Date:  April 1993

End Date:  January 1995 

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Great Dun Fell Publications

 


Harvard Forest

 

Contact:  Jerry Melillo

Email:  jmelillo@mbl.edu

Site Location: Petersham, Massachusetts, USA 

Latitude:  42.5 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -72.17 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature: 7 degrees Celsius 

Mean Annual Precipitation:  1102 mm

Biome:  Forest

Experimental Manipulation:  Soil warming 

Technology:  Cables

Start Date:  July 1991

End Date:  Ongoing 

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Harvard Forest Publications

 


Howland Forest

 

Contact:  Lindsey Rustad

Email:  rustad@maine.edu

Site Location: Howland, Maine, USA 

Latitude:  45.17 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -68.80 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  6 degrees Celsius

Mean Annual Precipitation:  1100 mm

Biome:  Forest

Experimental Manipulation:  Soil warming

Technology:  Cables

Start Date:  May 1993

End Date:  October 1995 

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Howland Forest Publications

 


Huntington Wildlife Forest

 

Contact:  Myron Mitchell

Email:  mitchell@forbin.syr.edu

Site Location: Newcomb, New York, USA 

Latitude:  43.98 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -74.23 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  4 degrees Celsius

Mean Annual Precipitation:  1010 mm

Biome:  Forest

Experimental Manipulation:  Soil warming

Technology:  Cables

Start Date:  May 1993

End Date:  September 1994 

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Huntington Forest Publications

 


ITEX

 

Contact:  Jeff Welker

Email:  afjmw1@uaa.alaska.edu

Site Location:  

Latitude:  68.64 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -149.58 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  

Mean Annual Precipitation:  

Biome: Tundra

Experimental Manipulation:   

Technology: 

Start Date:

End Date:   

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

ITEX Publications

 


Kiskunság (VULCAN)

 

Contact:  Edit Kovács-Láng

Email: lange@botanika.hu

Site Location:  Kecskemét, Hungary

Latitude:  46.88 decimal degrees

Longitude:  19.38 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  10.4 degrees Celsius  

Mean Annual Precipitation:  504.8 mm  

Biome: Shrub ecosystem with Populus Albe

Experimental Manipulation:  Passive nighttime warming, temporary rain exclusion   

Technology:  Temp: Passive night time warming. Water: Automatic Rain out shelter  

Start Date:  May 2001 

End Date:  Ongoing  

Key Research Questions:  Changes in biodiversity, ecosystem structure and functions  /phenology, primary productivity, litter decomposition, soil respiration, N mineralize, ecophysiology, soil nematodes, insects

 

Key Findings:  The components react differently to treatments, Natural weather fluctuations can outrange the effects of the applied treatments

 

Web Site:   www.obki.hu

 

Kiskunság Publications


McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER

 

Contact:  Diana Wall

Email:  diana@nrel.colostate.edu

Site Location:  Antarctica 

Latitude:  -77.63 decimal degrees

Longitude:  162.88 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  

Mean Annual Precipitation:  

Biome: Polar desert

Experimental Manipulation:  Soil warming

Technology:  Otc  

Start Date:  December 1993

End Date:  December 1999   

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

McMurdo Publications

 


Mols (VULCAN)

 

Contact:  Claus Beier

Email:  claus.beier@risoe.dk

Site Location:  Ebeltoft, Denmark 

Latitude:  56.38 decimal degrees

Longitude:  10.95 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  9 degrees Celsius

Mean Annual Precipitation:  644 mm 

Biome: Heath/grass ecosystem on sandy soil

Experimental Manipulation:  +1 oC, 6-8 week summer drought each year (3 replicates)

Technology:  Passive night time warming. Water: Automatic Rain out shelter  

Start Date:  May 1997

End Date:  Ongoing   

Key Research Questions:  Effects on species, community and ecosystem function (plants, fauna, soil, microbes) (including GHG gas exchange and carbon storage) 

Key Findings:  Drought affects soil structure, Warming affects species composition and growth, Warming interacts with disturbances to cause increased leaching of N

 

Web Site:  www.vulcanproject.com

 

Mols Publications

 


Ny Alesund

 

Contact:  Johanna Cornelissen

Email:  hansco@BIO.VU.NL

Site Location:  Norway 

Latitude:  79.13 decimal degrees

Longitude:  11.77 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  -6 degrees Celsius

Mean Annual Precipitation:  371 mm

Biome: Tundra

Experimental Manipulation:  Air warming

Technology: Otc  

Start Date:  June 1991 

End Date:   August 1995 

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Ny Alesund Publications

 


Oinghai-Tibet Plateau

 

Contact:  Shiping Wang

Email:  wangship2008@yahoo.cn

Site Location: Oinghai Province, China

Latitude:  37.62 decimal degrees 

Longitude:  101.20 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  -1.7 degrees Celsius 

Mean Annual Precipitation:   426 mm to 860 mm

Biome:  Alpine meadow

Experimental Manipulation:  Warming  

Technology:  Infrared heaters with free-air temperature enhancement (FATE)

Start Date:  May 2006

End Date:   Ongoing 

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Publications: 

 


Oklahoma Tall Grass Prairie

 

Contact:  Yiqi Luo

Email:  yluo@ou.edu

Site Location: Norman, Oklahoma, USA

Latitude:  35.25 decimal degrees 

Longitude:  -97.50 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  16.3 degrees Celsius 

Mean Annual Precipitation:   914 mm

Biome:  Tall grass prairie

Experimental Manipulation:  Experiment I. warming (infrared radiation heaters) x clipping 

Experiment II: warming (infrared radiation heaters) x precipitation (doubled using rain-collection-redistribution device)

Technology:  Shelter and additions

Start Date:  Warming x clipping - November 1999

                     Warming x precipitation - February 2002

End Date:   Warming x clipping - ongoing

                     Warming x precipitation - February 2005

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: http://bomi.ou.edu/luo

 

Publications:  Go to the web site above

 


Oldebroek (VULCAN)

 

Contact:  Albert Tietema

Email: a.tietema@science.uva.nl

Site Location:  Zwolle, Netherlands

Latitude:  52.4 decimal degrees

Longitude:  5.92 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  10.1 degrees Celsius  

Mean Annual Precipitation:  940 mm  

Biome:  Shrub ecosystem

Experimental Manipulation:  +1 oC, 6-8 week winter/spring drought each year (3 replicates)

Technology:  Passive night time warming. Water: Automatic Rain out shelter  

Start Date:  May 1997 

End Date:  Ongoing 

Key Research Questions:  Effects on species, community and ecosystem function (plants, fauna, soil, microbes) (including GHG gas exchange and carbon storage)

Key Findings:  Elevated temp. change species composition and N leaching. Repeated drought affects soil structure.

 

 

Web Site: 

 

Oldebroek Publications

 


ORNL

 

Contact:  Carla Gunderson

Email: gundersonca@ornl.gov

Site Location:  Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA 

Latitude:  35.9 decimal degrees

Longitude:  84.35 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  14 degrees Celsius

Mean Annual Precipitation:  1322 mm

Biome: Forest

Experimental Manipulation:  Air warming

Technology: Otc  

Start Date:  April 1994 

End Date:  September 1997 

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Publications:

 


Porto Conte Capo Caccia (VULCAN)

 

Contact:  Paolo De Angelis

Email:  pda@unitus.it

Site Location:  Northwest Sardinia, Italy 

Latitude:  40.62 decimal degrees

Longitude:  8.17 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  6.8 degrees Celsius  

Mean Annual Precipitation:  640 mm  

Biome: Mediterranean shrubland

Experimental Manipulation:  Nighttime warming (+0.5 °C on daily minimum; extended drought period (reduction of rainfall from 6% to 46% of annual)

Technology: Aluminum and plastic roofs, automatically controlled

Start Date:  July 2001 

End Date:  Ongoing 

Key Research Questions:  Impacts on growth, on species composition and on soil CO2 effluxes, of increasing temperatures and drought; environmental controls of soil respiration in semi-arid climate; interaction of climate changes and nitrogen cycle.

 

Key Findings:  The Mediterranean shrubland ecosystems are relatively insensitive to moderate temperature increase. Because the natural occurring drought is the main limiting factor, any changes on rainfall pattern could strongly affect these ecosystems. The response of soil respiration to climate changes is strictly related to the impact on plant growth and productivity.

 

Web Site:  www.vulcanproject.com 

 

Porto Conte Capo Caccia Publications

 


Rio Mayo

 

Contact:  Osvaldo Sala

Email: sala@ifeva.edu.ar

Site Location:  Rio Mayo, Argentina 

Latitude:  -45.42 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -70.27 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  8 degrees Celsius

Mean Annual Precipitation:  150 mm

Biome: Grassland

Experimental Manipulation:  Air warming

Technology:  Otc  

Start Date:  October 1996 

End Date:  

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Publications:

 


Rockie Mountain Biological Laboratory

 

Contact:  John Harte

Email: jharte@berkeley.edu

Site Location:  Crested Butte, Colorado, USA 

Latitude:  38.88 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -107.03 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  5 degrees Celsius

Mean Annual Precipitation:  750 mm

Biome: Grassland

Experimental Manipulation:  Soil warming

Technology:  Infra-red 

Start Date:  January 1991 

End Date:  Ongoing

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

  1. Significant shift in species composition from shallow-rooted forbs to shrubs under heating.
  2. 15-20% Loss of soil organic carbon under heating.
  3. Flowering phenology exhibits a common response function to changing timing of snow melt, whether from the heating manipulation or from interannual variability or from location along a climate gradient

 

Web Site: 

 

RMBL Publications

 


Shortgrass Steppe

 

Contact:  Ingrid Burke

Email:  indy@cnr.colostate.edu

Site Location:  Fort Collins, Colorado, USA 

Latitude:  40.82 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -104.77 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  9 degrees Celsius 

Mean Annual Precipitation:  322 mm

Biome: Grassland

Experimental Manipulation:  Air/soil warming

Technology:  Glass house  

Start Date:  May 1996

End Date:    

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Shortgrass Steppe Publications

 


TasFACE

 

Contact:  Mark Hovenden

Email:  Mark.Hovenden@utas.edu.au

Site Location:  Pontville, Tasmania, Australia

Latitude:  -42.69 decimal degrees

Longitude:  147.33 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  

Mean Annual Precipitation:  

Biome:  Grassland

Experimental Manipulation: Air warming,  550 ppm 

Technology:  Infra-red, FACE

Start Date:  February 2002

End Date: 

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Publications:

 


TERA

 

Contact:  David Tingey

Email:  dtingey@heart.cor.epa.gov

Site Location:  Corvallis, Oregon, USA 

Latitude:  45.33 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -124.03 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  11 degrees Celsius

Mean Annual Precipitation:  1095 mm

Biome: Forest

Experimental Manipulation:  Air/soil warming

Technology:  Otc  

Start Date:  August 1993

End Date:   August 1997 

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Publications:

 


Toolik Lake

 

Contact:  Gus Shaver

Email:  gshaver@mbl.edu

Site Location:  North Slope, Alaska, USA 

Latitude:  68.63 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -149.56 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  -9 degrees Celsius

Mean Annual Precipitation:  330 mm

Biome: Tundra

Experimental Manipulation:  Air warming

Technology:  Glass house  

Start Date:  June 1989

End Date:   Ongoing 

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Publications:

 


US Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center

 

Contact:  Bruce A. Kimball

Email:  bkimball@uswcl.ars.ag.gov

Site Location:  Maricopa, Arizona, USA 

Latitude:  33.07 decimal degrees

Longitude:  111.97 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  20.6 degrees Celsius

Mean Annual Precipitation:  173 mm

Biome: Irrigated area surrounded by desert

Experimental Manipulation:  

“Hot Serial Cereal” Experiment:

1. Planting wheat every 6 weeks for 2 years (Wheat is normally a winter crop at Maricopa.)

2. Arrays of infrared heaters for the 1Mar, 1Sep, and 1Dec planting dates. Canopy temperatures controlled at 1.5 C during daytime and 3.0 C at night above un-heated reference plots

Technology:  Hexagonal arrays of infrared heaters deployed over 3-m-diameter plots.  

Start Date:  1 March 2007

End Date:  Approximately 1 June 2009 

Key Research Questions:  

1. Determine the effects of warming by natural seasonal changes and by artificial manipulation on the growth, development, and yield of wheat in open-field plots.

2. Validate the temperature aspects of wheat growth models.

Key Findings:

 

Web Site:  http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects/projects.htm?accn_no=409185  

 

US Arid-Land Publications

 


Wytham

 

Contact:  Greg Masters

Email:  DrGregMasters@aol.com

Site Location:  Whytham, UK 

Latitude:  51.77 decimal degrees

Longitude:  -1.33 decimal degrees

Mean Annual Temperature:  10 degrees Celsius

Mean Annual Precipitation:  682 mm

Biome: Grassland

Experimental Manipulation:  Air/soil warming

Technology:  Cables  

Start Date:  January 1994

End Date:    

Key Research Questions:

 

Key Findings:

 

Web Site: 

 

Wytham Publications