Arctic Science (Jun 2023)
A review of open top chamber (OTC) performance across the ITEX Network
- Robert D. Hollister,
- Cassandra Elphinstone,
- Greg H. R. Henry,
- Anne D. Bjorkman,
- Kari Klanderud,
- Robert G. Björk,
- Mats P. Björkman,
- Stef Bokhorst,
- Michele Carbognani,
- Elisabeth J. Cooper,
- Ellen Dorrepaal,
- Sarah C. Elmendorf,
- Ned Fetcher,
- Elise C. Gallois,
- Jón Guðmundsson,
- Nathan C. Healey,
- Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir,
- Ingeborg J. Klarenberg,
- Steven F. Oberbauer,
- Petr Macek,
- Jeremy L. May,
- Alessandro Mereghetti,
- Ulf Molau,
- Alessandro Petraglia,
- Riikka Rinnan,
- Christian Rixen,
- Philip A. Wookey
Affiliations
- Robert D. Hollister
- Biology Department, Grand Valley State University, 1 Campus Dr., Allendale, MI 49401, USA
- Cassandra Elphinstone
- Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
- Greg H. R. Henry
- Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
- Anne D. Bjorkman
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, P.O. Box 461, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
- Kari Klanderud
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Science, P.O. Box 5003, 1432, Aas, Norway
- Robert G. Björk
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, P.O. Box 461, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
- Mats P. Björkman
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, P.O. Box 461, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
- Stef Bokhorst
- Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Michele Carbognani
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, I-43124, Parma, Italy
- Elisabeth J. Cooper
- Faculty of Biosciences Fisheries and Economics, Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, N-9037, Tromsø, Norway
- Ellen Dorrepaal
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Climate Impacts Research Centre, Umeå University, Sweden
- Sarah C. Elmendorf
- Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
- Ned Fetcher
- Institute for Environmental Science and Sustainability, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766, USA
- Elise C. Gallois
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FF, UK
- Jón Guðmundsson
- Agricultural University of Iceland, Árleyni 22, 112 Reykjavík, Iceland
- Nathan C. Healey
- KBR, Inc., Contractor to the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, Sioux Falls, SD 57198, USA
- Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, 102, Reykjavík, Iceland
- Ingeborg J. Klarenberg
- Department of Ecological Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Steven F. Oberbauer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199 USA
- Petr Macek
- Institute of Hydrobiology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Sadkach 702/7, CZ-37005, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
- Jeremy L. May
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199 USA
- Alessandro Mereghetti
- Climate Change Institute and School of Biology and Ecology, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 04469 USA
- Ulf Molau
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 461, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
- Alessandro Petraglia
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, I-43124, Parma, Italy
- Riikka Rinnan
- Department of Biology, Universitetsparken 15, 2100, Kobenhavn O, Denmark
- Christian Rixen
- WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Flüelastrasse 11, 7260 Davos Dorf, Switzerland
- Philip A. Wookey
- Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, UK
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2022-0030
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 9,
no. 2
pp. 331 – 344
Abstract
Open top chambers (OTCs) were adopted as the recommended warming mechanism by the International Tundra Experiment network in the early 1990s. Since then, OTCs have been deployed across the globe. Hundreds of papers have reported the impacts of OTCs on the abiotic environment and the biota. Here, we review the impacts of the OTC on the physical environment, with comments on the appropriateness of using OTCs to characterize the response of biota to warming. The purpose of this review is to guide readers to previously published work and to provide recommendations for continued use of OTCs to understand the implications of warming on low stature ecosystems. In short, the OTC is a useful tool to experimentally manipulate temperature; however, the characteristics and magnitude of warming varies greatly in different environments; therefore, it is important to document chamber performance to maximize the interpretation of biotic response. When coupled with long-term monitoring, warming experiments are a valuable means to understand the impacts of climate change on natural ecosystems.
Keywords
