Biodiversity studies in Open-Top Chambers in continental Antarctica

Abstract

Open Top Chambers are passive warming systems used to experimentally assess the effect of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems, and they were used in several Antarctic regions to study the response of biotic communities. In the BELSPO BELDIVA project, OTCs were used in continental Eastern Antarctica, where environmental conditions are very extreme. In January 2010, 8 Open-Top Chambers (OTC) were installed in four ice-free regions of the Sör Rondane Mountains, namely on the Utsteinen ridge, the Tanngarden granite outcrop, the Teltet nunatak and the fourth nunatak of the Pingvinane range.ANTAR-IMPACT, BELDIV