Adapting a propane turkey fryer to manipulate temperature in aquatic environments - Thermal manipulation datasets

There is a growing need to better understand the potential impacts of
altered thermal regimes on biodiversity
and ecosystem function as mean temperatures, and the
likelihood of extreme temperatures, continue to increase.
One valuable approach to identify mechanisms and
pathways of thermally-driven change at the
community level is through the manipulation of temperature in the
field. However, where methods exist, they are often costly or
unable to produce ecologically relevant changes in temperature. Here, we
present a low cost, easily assembled, and
readily customizable thermal manipulation
system for tide pools or other small bodies of
water – the Seaside Array for Understanding Thermal Effects
(SAUTE) – and demonstrate its ability
to effectively alter the temperature in tide pools. During our three-hour heating manipulation, heated pools reached temperatures 4°C warmer than unmanipulated pools. During the cooling manipulation, cooled pools remained on average 1.8°C cooler than control pools. The novel SAUTE system can be used to alter the temperature of tide pools in situ. Further, it could be modified to heat other environments such as freshwater vernal pools and settlement tiles in a realistic and meaningful manner, serving as a useful tool to test questions surrounding the relationship between climate warming, thermal variability, and ecological processes in natural aquatic communities.