New data on factors affecting plankton composition in five Swedish lakes

Experiments aiming at investigating the interactive effects of reduction in light availability and fish predation disturbances on the plankton community composition and ecosystem functioning were carried out in mesocosms installed in five Swedish lakes in summer 2017. A mesocosm is a unit to mimic natural aquatic ecosystems on a small scale in a controlled environment to be able to use different treatments to estimate how, e.g. climate change alters ecosystem functioning or food web structures.

The data from these experiments is now available with open access on the SITES data portal.

The mesocosms are offered by the SITES thematic programme AquaNet and open to the research community to access by application. The lakes included are situated close to the five SITES stations Asa, Bolmen, Erken, Skogaryd and Svartberget.

An additional goal of the first experiments was to establish a well-functioning support structure for future research groups using the infrastructure. This includes everything from application procedure to field support from station technicians and data management.

A call for application to use the mesocosms within SITES AquaNet in 2020 is now open. Information on the application procedure can be found here. The application deadline is 21 February 2020.