“The temperature increase is widespread over the globe and is greater at higher northern latitudes” IPCC 2007” and undoubtedly in Tomakomai temperature is also increasing (figure 1). In Tomakomai Experimental Forest we aim to determine the effects of a warmer climate on the forest ecosystem.

Field manipulations to warm an ecosystem are done world wide e.g. greenhouses, open top chambers, electric heating cables and infra-red heaters in various ecosystems.  The forest ecosystem is one of the important systems to understand how it will respond to a future climate. However few warming experiments are done in forests. especially with a focus on the highly productive forest canopy.

Tomakomai Experimental Forest of Hokkaido University provides access to the canopy of oak trees that are submitted to a warmer climate in various ways. The methods and research objectives are described on the following pages.