The drought treatment reduces summer rainfall by 69 %, and this has been found to have year-round effects below-ground. We have found the year-round reduction in soil moisture despite over a metre of rainfall falling within the ‘drought’ plots each year. Net carbon storage at the site is 18546 gC m-2, making it a particularly carbon rich habitat (Beier et al. 2009). The change in soil moisture in the ‘drought’ plots resulted in a stimulation of soil respiration (Sowerby et al. 2008) and has changed the below-ground carbon dynamics of the ecosystem. This has altered the C balance within the ‘drought’ plots (Sowerby et al. in prep.). Cross-site comparison work with the replica ‘sister’ Climoor sites in Denmark and the Netherlands has shown that the moisture status of a habitat is crucial in predicting the response in terms of C balance to a drought situation (Sowerby et al. 2008).
The warming treatment increases temperatures by only 0.7 oC on average, however, despite this relatively subtle treatment, we have observed changes in the performance of the different plant species in the plots, with one species apparently vulnerable to warming. ‘Bud break’ of Empetrum nigrum, the crowberry, has been delayed by the warming treatment (Prieto et al. 2009). In 2004, bud break for E. nigrum in the warming plots was 9 days later than in the control plots. The impact of the warming treatment was seen throughout the growing season for E. nigrum, and this may have implications for the distribution of this species in Wales and Northern England in future years. Other species have fared better under the warming treatment, for example, warming advanced ‘bud break’ for Vaccinium myrtilus, the bilberry, by 6 days in 2002.
Initial results from the UK Climoor and its European ‘sister’ sites was published in a special issue of Ecosystems, volume 7, number 6, in Sept 2004. Please see the publications list for the latest publications and results, as well as the back-catalogue of publications from this 10 year (1999-2009) climate change manipulation experiment.
The drought treatment reduces summer rainfall by 69 %, and this has been found to have year-round effects below-ground. We have found the year-round reduction in soil moisture despite over a metre of rainfall falling within the ‘drought’ plots each year. Net carbon storage at the site is 18546 gC m-2, making it a particularly carbon rich habitat (Beier et al. 2009). The change in soil moisture in the ‘drought’ plots resulted in a stimulation of soil respiration (Sowerby et al. 2008) and has changed the below-ground carbon dynamics of the ecosystem. This has altered the C balance within the ‘drought’ plots (Sowerby et al. in prep.). Cross-site comparison work with the replica ‘sister’ Climoor sites in Denmark and the Netherlands has shown that the moisture status of a habitat is crucial in predicting the response in terms of C balance to a drought situation (Sowerby et al. 2008).
The warming treatment increases temperatures by only 0.7 oC on average, however, despite this relatively subtle treatment, we have observed changes in the performance of the different plant species in the plots, with one species apparently vulnerable to warming. ‘Bud break’ of Empetrum nigrum, the crowberry, has been delayed by the warming treatment (Prieto et al. 2009). In 2004, bud break for E. nigrum in the warming plots was 9 days later than in the control plots. The impact of the warming treatment was seen throughout the growing season for E. nigrum, and this may have implications for the distribution of this species in Wales and Northern England in future years. Other species have fared better under the warming treatment, for example, warming advanced ‘bud break’ for Vaccinium myrtilus, the bilberry, by 6 days in 2002. 
Initial results from the UK Climoor and its European ‘sister’ sites was published in a special issue of Ecosystems, volume 7, number 6, in Sept 2004. Please see the publications list for the latest publications and results, as well as the back-catalogue of publications from this 10 year (1999-2009) climate change manipulation experiment.