There is a need for methodology to warm open-field plots in order to study the likely effects of global warming on ecosystems in the future. Herein, we describe the development of arrays of more powerful and efficient infrared heaters with ceramic heating elements. By tilting the heaters at 451 from horizontal and combining six of them in a hexagonal array, good uniformity of warming was achieved across 3-m-diameter plots. Moreover, there do not appear to be obstacles (other than financial) to scaling to larger plots. The efficiency [g h (%); thermal radiation out per electrical energy in] of these heaters was higher than that of the heaters used in most previous infrared heater experiments and can be described by: g h 5 10 1 25exp(À0.17 u), where u is wind speed at 2 m height (m s À1 ). Graphs are presented to estimate operating costs from degrees of warming, two types of plant canopy, and site windiness. Four such arrays were deployed over plots of grass at Haibei, Qinghai, China and another at Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA, along with corresponding reference plots with dummy heaters. Proportional integral derivative systems with infrared thermometers to sense canopy temperatures of the heated and reference plots were used to control the heater outputs. Over month-long periods at both sites, about 75% of canopy temperature observations were within 0.5 1C of the set-point temperature differences between heated and reference plots. Electrical power consumption per 3-m-diameter plot averaged 58 and 80 kW h day À1 for Haibei and Cheyenne, respectively. However, the desired temperature differences were set lower at Haibei (1.2 1C daytime, 1.7 1C night) than Cheyenne (1.5 1C daytime, 3.0 1C night), and Cheyenne is a windier site. Thus, we conclude that these hexagonal arrays of ceramic infrared heaters can be a successful temperature free-air-controlled enhancement (T-FACE) system for warming ecosystem field plots.

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Knowledge about the role of litter and dung decomposition in nutrient cycling and response to climate change and grazing in alpine ecosystems is still rudimentary. We conducted two separate studies to assess the relative role of warming and grazing on litter mass loss and on the temperature sensitivity of litter and dung mass loss. Experiments were conducted for 1-2 years under a controlled warming-grazing system and along an elevation gradient from 3200 to 3800 m. A free-air temperature enhancement system (FATE) using infrared heaters and grazing significantly increased soil temperatures (average 0.5-1.6 1C) from 0 to 40 cm depth, but neither warming nor grazing affected soil moisture except early in the growing seasons at 30 cm soil depth. Heaters caused greater soil warming at night-time compared with daytime, but grazing resulted in greater soil warming during daytime compared with night-time. Annual average values of the soil temperature at 5 cm were 3.2, 2.4 and 0.3 1C at 3200, 3600 and 3800 m, respectively. Neither warming nor grazing caused changes of litter quality for the first year of the controlled warming-grazing experiment. The effects of warming and grazing on litter mass losses were additive, increasing litter mass losses by about 19.3% and 8.3%, respectively, for the 2-year decomposition periods. The temperature sensitivity of litter mass losses was approximately 11% 1C À1 based on the controlled warming-grazing experiment. The annual cumulative litter mass loss was approximately 2.5 times that of dung along the elevation gradient. However, the temperature sensitivity (about 18% 1C À1 ) of the dung mass loss was about three times that of the litter mass loss. These results suggest greater warming at night-time compared with daytime may accelerate litter mass loss, and grazing will enhance carbon loss to atmosphere in the region through a decrease of litter biomass and an increase of dung production with an increase of stocking rate in future warmer conditions.