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Soil Warming

Research topics > Large Experiments > Soil Warming

Soil Warming Spring Soil Warming Winter

Models of climate change predict a global mean temperature increase of 2-5°C during the next century. The soil warming experiment assesses forest response to warming with an emphasis on soil processes (e.g., decomposition, trace gas fluxes) that could alter ecosystem function, atmospheric chemistry, and global climate. Initial treatments include:

  • soil temperature raised 5°C above ambient with heated cables
  • soils with cables but no heating (disturbance control)
  • control plots

Fluxes of soil gases (CH4, N2O, and CO2) and N availability have been measured monthly since initiation of the project in 1991. In 2003 we added two large (30x30m) plots (heated and control) to this experiment in order to evaluate the effect of warming on tree root processes.

Publications:

Melillo, J. M., P. A. Steudler, J. D. Aber, K. Newkirk, H. Lux, F. P. Bowles, C. Catricala, A. Magill, T. Ahrens, S. Morrisseau, E. Burrows, and K. Nadelhoffer. 2004. Soil warming - a major consequence of global climate change. Pp. 280-295 In D. Foster and J. Aber (Eds.), Forests in Time: The Environmental Consequences of 1000 Years of Change in New England. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.

Foster, D., J. Aber, R. Bowden, J. Melillo, and F. Bazzaz. 2004. Comparison between physical disturbance and novel stresses. Pp. 296-299 In D. Foster and J. Aber (Eds.), Forests in Time: The Environmental Consequences of 1000 Years of Change in New England. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.

Foster, D. and J. Aber. (Eds) 2004. Forests in Time: The Environmental Consequences of 1000 Years of Change in New England . Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.

Melillo, J. M., P. A. Steudler, J. D. Aber, Newkirk K., H. Lux, F. P. Bowles, C. Catricala, A. Magill, T. Ahrens, and S. Morrisseau. 2002. Soil warming and carbon-cycle feedbacks to the climate system. Science 298: 2173-2176

Schmidt, L. 1999. Exploration of possible feedback mechanism for carbon and nitrogen cycling in a forested ecosystem in response to artificial soil warming. Honors Thesis, Brown University

Foster, D. R., J. Aber, J. Melillo, R. D. Bowden, and F. A. Bazzaz. 1998. Forest response to natural disturbance versus human-induced stresses. Arnoldia 58: 35-40

Foster, D. R., J. D. Aber, J. M. Melillo, R. Bowden, and F. Bazzaz. 1997. Forest response to disturbance and anthropogenic stress. Rethinking the 1938 Hurricane and the impact of physical disturbance vs chemical and climate stress on forest ecosystems. BioScience 47: 437-445

Peterjohn, W. T., J. M. Melillo, P. A. Steudler, K. M. Newkirk, F. P. Bowles, and J. D. Aber. 1995. Responses of trace gas fluxes and N availability to experimentally elevated soil temperatures. Ecological Applications 4: 617-625

McGuire, A. D., J. M. Melillo, D. W. Kicklighter, and L. A. Joyce. 1995. Equilibrium responses of soil carbon to climate change: Empirical and process-based estimates. Journal of Biogeography 22: 785-796

Peterjohn, W. T., J. M. Melillo, F. P. Bowles, and P. A. Steudler. 1993. Soil warming and trace gas fluxes: experimental design and preliminary flux results. Oecologia 93: 18-24