Abstract
Passive chambers are used to examine the impacts of summer warming in Antarctica but, so far, impacts occurring outside the growing season, or related to extreme temperatures, have not been reported, despite their potentially large biological significance. In this review, we synthesise and discuss the microclimate impacts of passive warming chambers (closed, ventilated and Open Top Chamber—OTC) commonly used in Antarctic terrestrial habitats, paying special attention to seasonal warming, during the growing season and outside, extreme temperatures and freeze–thaw events. Both temperature increases and decreases were recorded throughout the year. Closed chambers caused earlier spring soil thaw (8–28 days) while OTCs delayed soil thaw (3–13 days). Smaller closed chamber types recorded the largest temperature extremes (up to 20°C higher than ambient) and longest periods (up to 11 h) of above ambient extreme temperatures, and even OTCs had above ambient temperature extremes over up to 5 consecutive hours. The frequency of freeze–thaw events was reduced by ~25%. All chamber types experienced extreme temperature ranges that could negatively affect biological responses, while warming during winter could result in depletion of limited metabolic resources. The effects outside the growing season could be as important in driving biological responses as the mean summer warming. We make suggestions for improving season-specific warming simulations and propose that seasonal and changed temperature patterns achieved under climate manipulations should be recognised explicitly in descriptions of treatment effects.
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Acknowledgments
This work is an output of the IPY project TARANTELLA (Rilland the Netherlands 2006). We thank these colleagues for their insights and access to data. Research was financially supported by the Netherlands Polar Programme (NPP-NWO 851.20.016), BAS ‘Polar Science for Planet Earth’ core science programme, Antarctica, New Zealand, the National Geographic Society’s Committee for Research and Exploration, and the University of Otago, French Polar Institute (IPEV through Programmes 136 ECOBIO and 405 DIVCRO), the CNRS (Zone Atelier Recherche sur l’Environnement Antarctique et Subantarctique), the NSF OPP, and the McMurdo LTER. Thanks to many field assistants and David Wharton for support and discussion. Data from Signy and Alexander Island (closed and ventilated chambers) were provided by the British Antarctic Survey, Antarctic Microclimate Data (GB/NERC/BAS/AEDC/00002). This paper contributes to the SCAR ‘Evolution and Biodiversity in Antarctica’ scientific research programme.
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300_2011_997_MOESM2_ESM.tif
Effect of chamber types on monthly mean soil surface temperatures in the Antarctic. Temperature difference between chambers and control outside is shown on the y-axis. Chamber types: closed chambers (a-d), ventilated chambers (e and f), and OTCs (g-j) (TIFF 1547 kb)
300_2011_997_MOESM3_ESM.tif
Monthly mean, minimum and maximum soil temperatures at 5 cm depth with chamber and control plots. Range bars are minimum and maximum monthly temperatures, grey bars are chambers and the black with wider end caps are control values. Note that the chamber data points are slightly offset from the x-axis (TIFF 1318 kb)
300_2011_997_MOESM4_ESM.tif
Monthly mean, minimum and maximum soil surface temperatures with chamber and control plots. Range bars are minimum and maximum monthly temperatures, grey bars are chambers and the black with wider end caps are control values. Note that the chamber data points are slightly offset from the x-axis (TIFF 1449 kb)
300_2011_997_MOESM5_ESM.tif
Freeze–thaw events in and outside warming chambers in the Antarctic throughout the year. Freeze–thaw events were calculated from hourly data obtained from temperature sensors at the soil surface. Chamber types: closed chambers (a-d), ventilated chambers (e and f), and OTCs (g-j) (TIFF 1521 kb)
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Bokhorst, S., Huiskes, A., Convey, P. et al. Microclimate impacts of passive warming methods in Antarctica: implications for climate change studies. Polar Biol 34, 1421–1435 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-0997-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-0997-y