Design and performance of an ecosystem-scale forest soil warming experiment with infrared heater arrays

Yihang Duan, Dongwei Liu, Kai Huang, Wenkai Shou, Feifei Zhu, Yuqi Liu, Haoming Yu, Per Gundersen, Ronghua Kang, Ang Wang, Shijie Han, Zhiming Wang, Jiaojun Zhu, Weixing Zhu, Yunting Fang*

*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

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Abstract

How forest ecosystems respond to climate warming will determine forest trajectories over the next 100 years. However, the potential effects of elevated temperature on forests remain unclear, primarily because of the absence of long-term and large-size field warming experiments in forests, especially in Asia. Here, we present the design and performance of an ecosystem-scale warming experiment using infrared (IR) heater arrays in a 60-year-old temperate mixed forest at Qingyuan Forest CERN in northeastern China. In paired 108 m2 plots (n = 3), the surface soils were constantly elevated 2°C above control plots with a feedback control system over 4 years (2018–2021). Subsoils down to 60 cm depth were warmed 1.2–2°C. Soil warming did not significantly affect soil moisture either in surface soils or in subsoils. Turn-off time due to weather extremes (heavy rains, snow) and power outages only accounted for 2.5% of the total warming period. In conclusion, we provide a proof-of-principle setup that allows long-term analysis of forest response to warming temperatures in large-size field plots. Importantly, our warming experiment demonstrated the feasibility of IR heater arrays for soil warming in tall-statured forest ecosystems.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftMethods in Ecology and Evolution
Vol/bind13
Udgave nummer9
Sider (fra-til)2065-2077
ISSN2041-210X
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2022

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
This research was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2016YFA0600802), the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. QYZDB‐SSWDQC002), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 41773094 and 31800412), K.C. Wong Education Foundation (GJTD‐2018‐07), Liaoning Vitalization Talents Program (NO. XLYC1902016) and the Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management of Chinese Academy of Sciences. We wish to thank Xiaoming Fang for his assistance in constructing and maintaining the warming site. We wish to thank Meixia Gao, Shaonan Huang, Linlin Song, Kai Yang, Weidong Zhang, Xuelian Bao, Lingrui Qu, Shuang Xu, Yirong Sun, Zhongling Yang and Shidong Chen for plot investigation and construction. We wish to thank Erik A. Hobbie and Torsten Juelich for their constructive suggestions and linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript. We are grateful to Qingyuan Forest CERN for providing the experimental sites and relevant support.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Methods in Ecology and Evolution © 2022 British Ecological Society.

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