Publication Details |
| Category | Text Publication |
| Reference Category | Journals |
| DOI | 10.1111/gcb.15471 |
Licence  |
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| Title (Primary) | Ecotrons: Powerful and versatile ecosystem analysers for ecology, agronomy and environmental science |
| Author | Roy, J.; Rineau, F.; De Boeck, H.J.; Nijs, I.; Pütz, T.; Abiven, S.; Arnone III, J.A.; Barton, C.V.M.; Beenaerts, N.; Brüggemann, N.; Dainese, M.; Domisch, T.; Eisenhauer, N.; Garré, S.; Gebler, A.; Ghirardo, A.; Jasoni, R.L.; Kowalchuk, G.; Landais, D.; Larsen, S.H.; Leemans, V.; Le Galliard, J.-F.; Longdoz, B.; Massol, F.; Mikkelsen, T.N.; Niedrist, G.; Piel, C.; Ravel, O.; Sauze, J.; Schmidt, A.; Schnitzler, J.-P.; Teixeira, L.H.; Tjoelker, M.G.; Weisser, W.W.; Winkler, J.B.; Milcu, A. |
| Source Titel | Global Change Biology |
| Year | 2021 |
| Department | BZF; iDiv |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Page From | 1387 |
| Page To | 1407 |
| Language | englisch |
| Topic | T5 Future Landscapes |
| Supplements | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Fgcb.15471&file=gcb15471-sup-0001-Supinfo.docx https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Fgcb.15471&file=gcb15471-sup-0002-Supinfo.docx https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Fgcb.15471&file=gcb15471-sup-0003-Supinfo.docx |
| Keywords | biodiversity, controlled environment facilities, ecosystem functioning, ecosystem process measurements, environmental simulations, experimentation, global change, research infrastructures |
| Abstract | Ecosystems integrity and services are threatened by
anthropogenic global changes. Mitigating and adapting to these changes
requires knowledge of ecosystem functioning in the expected novel
environments, informed in large part through experimentation and
modelling. This paper describes 13 advanced controlled environment
facilities for experimental ecosystem studies, herein termed ecotrons,
open to the international community. Ecotrons enable simulation of a
wide range of natural environmental conditions in replicated and
independent experimental units whilst simultaneously measuring various
ecosystem processes. This capacity to realistically control ecosystem
environments is used to emulate a variety of climatic scenarios and soil
conditions, in natural sunlight or through broad spectrum lighting. The
use of large ecosystem samples, intact or reconstructed, minimises
border effects and increases biological and physical complexity.
Measurements of concentrations of greenhouse trace gases as well as
their net exchange between the ecosystem and the atmosphere are
performed in most ecotrons, often quasi continuously. The flow of matter
is often tracked with the use of stable isotope tracers of carbon and
other elements. Equipment is available for measurements of soil water
status as well as root and canopy growth. The experiments run so far emphasize the diversity of the
hosted research. Half of them concern global changes, often with a
manipulation of more than one driver. About a quarter deal with the
impact of biodiversity loss on ecosystem functioning and one quarter
with ecosystem or plant physiology. We discuss how the methodology for environmental simulation
and process measurements, especially in soil, can be improved and stress
the need to establish stronger links with modelling in future projects.
These developments will enable further improvements in mechanistic
understanding and predictive capacity of ecotron research which will
play, in complementarity with field experimentation and monitoring, a
crucial role in exploring the ecosystem consequences of environmental
changes. |
| Persistent UFZ Identifier | https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=24012 |
| Roy, J., Rineau, F., De Boeck, H.J., Nijs, I., Pütz, T., Abiven, S., Arnone III, J.A., Barton, C.V.M., Beenaerts, N., Brüggemann, N., Dainese, M., Domisch, T., Eisenhauer, N., Garré, S., Gebler, A., Ghirardo, A., Jasoni, R.L., Kowalchuk, G., Landais, D., Larsen, S.H., Leemans, V., Le Galliard, J.-F., Longdoz, B., Massol, F., Mikkelsen, T.N., Niedrist, G., Piel, C., Ravel, O., Sauze, J., Schmidt, A., Schnitzler, J.-P., Teixeira, L.H., Tjoelker, M.G., Weisser, W.W., Winkler, J.B., Milcu, A. (2021): Ecotrons: Powerful and versatile ecosystem analysers for ecology, agronomy and environmental science Glob. Change Biol. 27 (7), 1387 - 1407 10.1111/gcb.15471 |
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