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Tracking Soil Temperature and Moisture in a Multi-Factor Climate Experiment in Temperate Grassland: Do Climate Manipulation Methods Produce their Intended Effects?

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Abstract

Passive open-top chambers (OTCs) and rainout shelters (RSs) have been used for over two decades to manipulate temperature and water availability in experiments on plant communities. These types of manipulations have been independently evaluated; however, as experiments become more complex and multiple factors are evaluated the potential for unknown or undesirable treatment effects increases. We present the effects of temperature manipulations (with OTCs), water manipulations (with RSs and water additions), and a clipping treatment, implemented in a fully factorial design, on soil moisture and temperature over 2 years in a temperate grassland. Temperature was increased 0.2°C by OTCs. Soil volumetric water content was reduced 3% by RSs and increased 2% by watering. However, clipping vegetation, treatment interactions, and weather conditions also affected soil temperature and moisture. For example, in OTCs RSs increased the temperature an additional 0.4°C, watering lowered it 0.4°C, and clipping raised temperature 2°C. Similarly, changes in soil moisture due to the RSs decreased VWC by 3% and increased 1% by clipping whereas soil moisture due to watering was reduced 1% by the OTCs and clipping. We also found that OTCs are more effective at raising temperatures on cooler days when soil temperatures are below 16.3°C. Our results suggest that all treatment types generally affect soil variables in predicable ways, but use of such devices should be adopted with caution, as they do not act independently, or exclusively, on the target variables.

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Acknowledgments

The research was supported with an NSERC Discovery Grant, a Canadian Foundation for Innovation Grant, and a BC Forest Science Program Grant to LHF. CNC was supported with an NSERC IPS in collaboration with the Grasslands Conservation Council of BC, a UBC Graduate Fellowship and a Pacific Century scholarship from the government of British Columbia. Comments from Doug Frank and anonymous reviewers improved this manuscript. We thank Brandy Ludwig, Amber Greenall, Montana Burgess, Eleanor Bassett, Lisa DeSandoli, Amy Bitz, Jessica Gosling, and Anna-Marie Pellet who provided assistance maintaining the experiment. Don Thompson, at Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, and the BC Ministry of Environment helped with logistics and allowed site access.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Blvd., Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Cameron N. Carlyle & Roy Turkington

  2. Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Thompson Rivers University, 900 McGill Road, PO Box 3010, Kamloops, British Columbia, V2C 5N3, Canada

    Cameron N. Carlyle & Lauchlan H. Fraser

Authors
  1. Cameron N. Carlyle
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  2. Lauchlan H. Fraser
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  3. Roy Turkington
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cameron N. Carlyle.

Additional information

CNC designed the study, performed research, analyzed data, and wrote the paper. LHF and RT designed the study and wrote the paper.

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Carlyle, C.N., Fraser, L.H. & Turkington, R. Tracking Soil Temperature and Moisture in a Multi-Factor Climate Experiment in Temperate Grassland: Do Climate Manipulation Methods Produce their Intended Effects?. Ecosystems 14, 489–502 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9425-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9425-y

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