Experimental Ecosystems

The experimental ecosystems unit oversees a unique controlled environment facility - the Limnotron - which is the world’s largest aquatic mesocosm facility. The facility is exploring the impacts of biological diversity on ecosystem processes.

Faculty
John Fryxell
Denis Lynn
Kevin McCann
Tom Nudds

Postdoctoral Fellow
Neil Rooney

The Limnotron Facility: Mapping Biodiversity to Structure and Function

There is increasing evidence that we are now involved in a global biodiversity crisis. Species are being lost at unprecedented rates, and there is little doubt that this is due in part to the human footprint on the earth’s landscape. Some 12% of all bird species, 23% of mammals, 25% of conifers, 32% of amphibians and 52% of cycads are threatened with extinction, and the delayed effects of climate change may yet further inflate these numbers (Loreau et al. 2006). In the face of such change, an obvious response is to begin to catalogue the earth’s diversity (Canadian Barcode of Life Network). Although this is of critical importance it is also extremely important to understand what the loss of diversity means for the biological structure and function of ecosystems (see Box 1). The Limnotron facility seeks to address this aspect of the biodiversity crisis.

In collaboration with a team of researchers, this research program is beginning to detail biological structures from both pristine and impacted aquatic ecosystems. Remarkably, empirical generalities in the biological structure of pristine and impacted ecosystems have begun to emerge (Rooney et al. 2006). This is where the Limnotron comes in. The Limnotron facility has been designed to allow us to reproduce certain ubiquitous structures in aquatic ecosystems (e.g., water colum stratification, sediment-water interface etc.). As such, the Limnotron is capable of creating small aquatic ecosystems that can mimic the biological structure found in lakes. Further, the controlled and replicated Limnotron environment allows us to experimentally identify how specific biological structures maintain the sustainability of ecosystem functions. In essence, the Limnotron promises to allow us to move beyond cataloguing species and begin to catalogue the functional implications of biological structure -- an under-explored but critical aspect of the global biodiversity crisis.

• Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding
• OAC Herbarium
• OAC Insect Collection
• Experimental Ecosystems