An Ecotron
is an experimental instrument in
ecology
Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...
consisting of a controlled environment which makes it possible to simultaneously condition the environment of natural, simplified, or completely artificial
ecosystems
An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...
and measure the processes generated by living beings present in these ecosystems, in particular the flow of matter and
energy
Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...
.
Design
Its principle is to confine ecosystems in totally or partially waterproof enclosures which are permeable to energy flow and capable of generating a range of physical and chemical conditions applied to terrestrial or
aquatic ecosystem
An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem found in and around a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms—aquatic life—that are dependent on each other and on their environ ...
s, continental or marine. Environmental control and real-time measurements are precise enough to test hypotheses or operating models. For this purpose, the enclosures are fitted with significant equipment allowing continuous measurement of
flux
Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications in physics. For transport phe ...
es, states or biological characteristics. Other specific measurements, in situ and ex situ, on samples taken complete these online measurements. A sufficient number of independent confinement chambers is necessary to study several interacting factors in a framework of statistical inference.
Un Écotron pour mesurer les impacts des changements environnementaux sur les écosystèmes
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Depending on the case, we speak of a ''macrocosm'' when the space is large enough to study several m3 of reconstituted ecosystem over a period of time, generally measured in years (3-5 years or more for example), of ''microcosm'' for volumes measuring in cubic decimeters (study of fungal, bacterial, soil ecosystems, etc.) and '' mesocosm'' for intermediate situations.
References
Bibliography
* Lawton, J. H., Naeem, S., Woodfin, R. M., Brown, V. K., Gange, A., Godfray, H. J. C., Heads, P. A., Lawler, S., Magda, D., Thomas, C. D., Thompson, L. J. & Young, S. (1993) "The Ecotron - a Controlled Environmental Facility for the Investigation of Population and Ecosystem Processes." Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 341, 181-194.
* Lawton, J. H. (1996) "The Ecotron facility at Silwood Park: The value of big bottle" experiments. Ecology, 77, 665-669.
* Loreau, M. (1998) ''Biodiversité et fonctionnement des écosystèmes'' n°81, pp. 3-7. French National Centre for Scientific Research
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe.
In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...
, Paris.
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External links
Paris CEREEP – ECOTRON IDF
Montpellier European Ecotron
Ecosystems
Scientific instruments