Mesodrome

At Campus Drie Eiken two research groups of UAntwerpen, Sphere and Ecobe constructed a large mesocosm facility. A mesocosm is a controllable semi-natural system in which environmental and biological processes can be studied on an ecologically relevant scale of complexity, space and timeframe. The installation consists of a 1000 m² greenhouse housing 16 large ponds (2 m ø, 1.2 m water depth), four 5 m long raceways with variable waterflow equipped as respirometers and an aquaculture installation (2 x 3.8 m³). Besides the ponds all systems are fully temperature controlled and equipped for gas exchange (e.g. CO2). A unique 25 m long flume allowing simulation of tides in shorelands is the showpiece.