Real and experimental ecosystem warming: interacting effects on snowmelt, plant community composition and carbon storage in a Rocky Mountain subalpine meadow

Abstract

A 22 year warming experiment at Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory has elucidated short term (15 year) responses in plant community and soil organic carbon to artificial warming. This summer’s research evaluates long-term (>15 year) changes and, because of recent climate change effects, the relevance of experimental data for predicting real world effects. Ten long-term plots, half heated by 22 W/m2 of warming, were tested for changes in soil carbon using soil cores and in plant community composition using aerial coverage measurements converted into biomass. Long term changes in the heated plots showed that soil carbon, which was initially reduced, could recover to previous levels. Carbon is strongly controlled by shrub and forb biomass, which are in turn controlled by melt date. Heated plots were generally predictive of changes due to climate in the controls, with the exception of changes in soil carbon and shrub cover. Responses to real-world warming in control plots have shown a more gradual change and has not yet shown a state change towards SOC recovery. This suggests that this and similar studies are useful for projecting the impacts of global warming, but also shows that short term and long term projections may be very different.

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