AQUACOSM-plus: an International Network for Experimental Mesocosm Studies Supporting Experimental Studies of Aquatic-Terrestrial Coupling

Although processes in aquatic systems are closely connected to the terrestrial environment, these environments are often studied separately. We argue that for a better understanding of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems a combination of long-term data from connected environments, coupled with experimental ecosystem-scale experiments, have a greater potential for successful model testing and development of predictive concepts, than using only long-term data (without experiments) from separate systems. This talk will present the new EU-funded RI-project AQUACOSM-plus (www.aquacosm.eu, 2020-2024) that offers access to >50 research facilities across the EU and is linked to world-wide cooperation through the MESOCOSM.EU portal, a virtual network of >100 research facilities. Both networks include mesocosm facilities in all aquatic systems, including rivers, ponds, lakes, estuaries and marine systems – offering unique opportunities to conduct ecosystem-scale experimental studies of relevance to aquatic-terrestrial coupling. This network of research facilities can be used for large-scale process-based studies to test models based on trend or response observations from long-term-data, in order to understand underlying mechanisms of ecosystem functioning relating to the present global Grand Challenges (climate change, biodiversity loss, eutrophication, emerging pollutants, etc.). Interested parties are also welcome to suggest other uses of these research facilities, such as conducting ecosystem solution-based experiments to enable effective management in aquatic ecosystems. The network will fund access to >10.000 days for a wide range of external users, including scientists, students, industry and developers, from the whole world.