A review of open top chamber (OTC) performance across the ITEX Network

• Published in: Arctic Science
• Main Authors: 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
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; French
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2023
• Subjects: Arctic; alpine; tundra; warming experiment; large-scale coordinated experiment; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Environmental engineering; TA170-171; Climate change; Tundra
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2022-0030; https://doaj.org/article/8cbaaba8d6eb432f8f4c63cd045a97f8

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.