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LMU Mesocosms
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
Infrastructure Description
The LMU Mesocosms operated by the Aquatic Ecology group at the University of Munich (LMU) are situated at the Seeon Limnological Station 80 km southeast of Munich. The infrastructure consists up to 80 highly mobile mesocosms that are moored or free-floating. They vary in diameter from 0.9 to 2m, reach depths of up to 20 m, and can be filled in situ with lake water by submerging and then lifting floating rings, or by means of powerful pumps (10 m3/h). The high mobility of these mesocosms provides unique opportunities to deploy replicate experimental units simultaneously in several lakes. Approximately 60 lakes within short distance to the Seeon Limnological Station are available for experiments, which differ in size, depth and trophic status. For most of the lakes long term monitoring data (> 30 years) of basic physical, chemical and biological variables are available. Potential experimental manipulations include, but are not limited to, light intensity and spectral composition, nutrient supply, temperature regimes and food-web structure and composition. Additionally, LMU provides a land based mesocosm infrastructure including 3 basins of up to 900L with a temperature controlled heating device.
Available facilities and equipment include walk-in environmental chamber, large plankton growth chamber, 300-L indoor plankton cultivation facility, four-wheel pick-up truck, boat trailer and 6 boats. Probes for measuring standard physicochemical variables and chlorophyll enable fast in-situ characterisation of water quality. The following and instruments equipment are available for chemical, biochemical and biological analyses in the lab, the latter focussing on phyto- and zooplankton communities: multispectral PAM-system, fluoroprobe, FlowCAM, CHN elemental analyser, 2 spectrophotometers, 2 spectrofluorometers, spectroradiometer, ion chromatograph, Multi Color PAM, and high-quality microscopes.
Facility Description
outdoor – pelagic/benthic – freshwater 8 concrete tanks, 3 temperature controlled basins, 10 smaller concrete tanks
Organisation Address
Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Department Biologie II, Aquatic Ecology
Großhaderner Str. 2
Planegg-Martinsried
82152
Germany
Infrastructure Address
80 km southeast of Munich
Seeon-Seebruck
Germany
Information Sources
Location
Gallery
Contacts
Maria Stockenreiter
Herwig Stibor
Controlled Parameters
temperature, light, nutrients, species composition
Research Topics
plankton ecology, climate change scenarios, nutrients, stoichiomenty, biodiversity and community assembly
Experiment Years
2005 - present
TA Support
Services currently offered by the infrastructure: Users have access to the laboratories, instrumentation, technical assistance, dormitories and lodging facilities at SLS. Additional accommodation is available in various B&Bs within walking distance, as are shopping opportunities for daily needs. Users are encouraged to cooperate with local scientists at LMU in Seeon and at the main university campus to take full advantage of the infrastructure and specific expertise. Numerous successful experiments have been conducted in the LMU Mesocosms over the past 20 years relating to response of lake systems to changing light and nutrient conditions, stratification depth, temperature and plankton community structure in national and international projects, e.g. AQUASHIFT (2005-2010), DynaTrait (since 2014), AQUACOSM (since 2017) and 12 other projects funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Support offered under AQUACOSM: All external users will have access to office and lab space, cars and boats as well as instrumentation available at SLS. Free bench space is available for users bringing their own large instruments. All users receive support from the scientific team, permanently employed technical staff and other service personnel operating the LMU Mesocosms. Furthermore, given a large pool of interested students, both undergraduate and graduate research can notably support experiments, as has been successfully practiced in the past.
Support offered under AQUACOSM-plus: All users will have access to the facilities and services described above. Free bench space is available for users bringing their own large instruments. All users will receive scientific, technical and administrative support by LMU staff. Furthermore, given a large pool of interested students, both undergraduate and graduate research can notably support experiments, as has been successfully practiced in the past.
TA Modality of Access
Modality of access under AQUACOSM: At least 945 person-days will be allocated to external users during years 2-4 of AQUACOSM Transnational Access provision. Users are encouraged to apply for support by AQUACOSM to participate in experiments that are already planned and funded by the DFG, the Bavarian Government and an EU Career Integration Grant (CIG) to address effects of nutrient stoichiometry on lake food-web dynamics, consequences of microbial biodiversity loss for food-web efficiencies and the genetic and ecological characterization of invasive aquatic species. However, independent experiments by external users can also be accommodated. LMU Mesocosm experiments typically run for 3 to 12 weeks between March and October. Access is offered to a minimum of 6 persons for 40-45 days each in years 2-4.
Modality of access under AQUACOSM-plus: At least 550 person-days will be allocated to external users of AQUACOSM-plus TA provision. It is anticipated that AQUACOSM-plus will support a minimum of 5 persons for 55 days per year in M10-21 and M34-45. Users are encouraged to apply for support by AQUACOSM-plus to participate in experiments that are already planned and funded to address effects of nutrient stoichiometry on lake food-web dynamics, consequences of microbial biodiversity loss for food-web efficiencies and the genetic and ecological characterization of invasive aquatic species. However, independent experiments by external users can also be accommodated. LMU Mesocosm experiments typically run for 3 to 12 weeks between March and October.