The Time Machine Experiment – A field experiment simulating future climate to understand how conifers will respond climate change

Ingo Ensminger and his group have established a new experiment at the Koffler Scientific Reserve at Jokers Hill. In their experiment, temperature is manipulated to simulate future warmer climate. Their infrastructure is capable of elevating air temperature while all other environmental factors remain constant. This is achieved through a temperature free-air controlled enhancement experiment (T-FACE). Using infrared heaters controlled by a sophisticated logger-network, air temperature is elevated in experimental plot during daytime by 2°C and during nighttime by by 3°C compared to ambient temperature in their unheated control plots. In the current experiment, Ensminger and his co-workers study the effect of local adaptation in different genotypes of White pine seedlings on growth and survival of this economically important tree species in a future warmer climate.

Click on the link below to take a look at their experimental warming array:

Webcam at the Koffler Scientific Reserve