Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE)

Current atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are unprecedented for the last 800,000 years and require assessments of their potential effects. Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FACE) is regarded as the most appropriate exposure system for experimental field investigations.

In the group of Andreas Fangmeier (Prof. for Plant Ecology and Ecotoxicology at the Institute of Landscape and Plant Ecology) a FACE system with innovative technology is in operation to investigate the response of ecosystems with short vegetation to rising atmospheric CO2.

The design and performance of the new FACE system has recently been published (Fangmeier et al. 2016, Env. Exp. Bot. 130, 151-161, DOI: 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2016.06.002).