| Mesocosms are enclosed watermasses (1-50m2) where we can manipulate and investigate
natural plankton communities and study their response to environmental change.
A mesocosm may be considered a semi-natural experimental system where the
complexity of the natural ecosystem largely is maintained apart from mixing
and drifting of water masses. The development and dynamics of natural communities
may hence be studied over time and subjected to experimental manipulations
without the logistic demands of open sea Lagrangian studies.
Mesocosms have been widely used in experimental
ecology as a bridge between “simple” laboratory
experiments and studies of natural ecosystems. In situ mesocosms
may be described as large polyethylene plastic bags that
hang vertically in the water mounted on floating frames.
Land based mesocosms are tanks (made of plastics or glass
fibre) are placed on land and sometimes inside larger tanks
filled with water to control the temperature.
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Mesocosms
at the University of Bergen Mesocosm Research Facility:
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