Silkeborg Lake Mesocosms (AU)
Silkeborg Lake Mesocosms, situated in Silkeborg, Jutland.
In addition to the mentioned Open-air platforms, three so-called Enclosed platforms are part of AnaEE Denmark. These platforms are highly controlled and instrumented artificial growth facilities, which are highly complementary to the Open-air platforms as they enable higher levels of environmental control and process measurement on ecosystems.
The Silkeborg Lake Mesocosms represent a unique long-term (with 11 years so far the World’s longest running) flow-through mesocosm experiment consisting of twenty-four cylindrical outdoor mesocosms, each 2.8 m3 in volume, allows for addressing climate-change effects on lakes under contrasting nutrient levels and water clarity. A control and two potential future temperature regimes (based on IPPC climate scenarios A2 and A2 + 50%) are run. Major research questions addressed include short- and long-term effects of warming, heatwaves, sudden browning on biological structure, food-webs, nutrient and carbon dynamics, biodiversity and the ecosystem resilience and potential for regime shifts. Primary planned upgrades include sensors for continuous measurements of chlorophyll a and algae specific pigments as well as CO2, including data storage facilities.
Contact
Erik Jeppesen
Dr.Scient, professor
DIR (+45) 8715 8997
ej@bios.au.dk