Open AccessA novel marine mesocosm facility to study global warming, water quality, and ocean acidification
Author(s) -
Duarte Gustavo,
Calderon Emiliano N.,
Pereira Cristiano M.,
Marangoni Laura F. B.,
Santos Henrique F.,
Peixoto Raquel S.,
Bianchini Adalto,
Castro Clovis B.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
ecology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.17
H-Index - 63
ISSN - 2045-7758
DOI - 10.1002/ece3.1670
Subject(s) - mesocosm , seawater , environmental science , ecotoxicology , diel vertical migration , raceway , ocean acidification , microcosm , acclimatization , water quality , environmental chemistry , ecology , oceanography , biology , chemistry , nutrient , physics , finite element method , thermodynamics , geology
We describe a completely randomizable flow‐through outdoor mesocosm for climate change and ecotoxicology studies that was built with inexpensive materials. The 16 raceway tanks allow up to 6× water renewal per hour, avoiding changes in natural abiotic seawater conditions. We use an open‐source hardware board ( A rduino) that was adapted to control heaters and an innovative CO 2 injection system. This system reduced seawater pH up to −0.9 units and increased temperature up to +6°C in three treatments and a control. Treatments can be continuously compared with the control and vary according to diel fluctuations, thus following the diel range observed in the sea. The mesocosm facility also includes an integrated secondary system of 48 aquaria for ecotoxicology studies. We validated the reproducibility and relevance of our experimental system by analyzing the variation of the total DNA of the microbial community extracted from corals in three elevated temperature scenarios during a 40‐day experiment. We also present data from temperature, acidification, and copper contamination trials, which allowed continuous, reliable, and consistent treatment manipulations.