A novel in situ passive heating method for evaluating whole-tree responses to daytime warming in remote environments.

Background: Many significant ecosystems, including important non-forest woody ecosystems such as the Cerrado (Brazilian savannah), are under threat from climate change, yet our understanding of how increasing temperatures will impact native vegetation remains limited. Temperature manipulation experiments are important tools for investigating such impacts, but are often constrained by access to power supply and limited to low-stature species, juvenile individuals, or heating of target organs, perhaps not fully revealing how entire or mature individuals and ecosystems will react to higher temperatures.

Results: We present a novel, modified open top chamber design for in situ passive heating of whole individuals up to 2.