Mesocosms

The impacts of warming and chemical stressors on natural ecosystems remain poorly understood particularly for food webs and ecosystems where interactions add emergent properties that can only be understood using a system-level perspective. An array of experimental ponds at Silwood Park is one tool helping assess the impacts of these ecological disturbances across multiple levels of biological organisation, from genes to food webs and  the whole ecosystem. Different sets of ponds are available to test the effects of other stressors of freshwater ecosystems and their impact on biodiversity and ecosystem functions.

• Mesocosms facility summary