Since 2021 I am a head of Hasselt University Ecotron research infrastructure and the associated research group.
The Ecotron is a large scale research infrastructure that allows for sophisticated state-of-the-art controlled experiments to assess ecosystem functioning, now and in future climates. It provides insight into the impact of climate on a given ecosystem that cannot be gained by field experiments (too complex) neither controlled laboratory experiments (too reductive).
The work of the Ecotron team is framed across five pillars:
Fundamental understanding of ecosystem functioning and impacts of climate change thereon
Understanding interactions of climate change with other environmental drivers
Testing new technologies to adapt to climate change
Development of land management pathways to counteract climate change
Public education and raising awareness of biodiversity and environmental change
The UHasselt Ecotron consists of 12 closed sun-lit units, where environmental conditions can be separately controlled. Each unit hosts a lysimeter with soil-canopy column of 3.14 m2 and 1.5 m deep, where ecosystem processes can be monitored all in real time.
The following variables can be controlled: air temperature, air relative humidity, air CO2 concentration, precipitation, soil water tension, and soil temperature.
The following variables are monitored every 1 to 30 min: air CH4 and N2O concentrations, air pressure, net radiation, photosynthetically active radiation, soil electrical conductivity, soil water content, soil weight, and soil leachate weight.
All soil parameters are measured at 15 positions: 5 depths (10, 20, 35, 60, 140 cm) and at 3 spatial positions per depth.
Additionally, suction cups are sampling soil water at the same 15 positions per unit.
From these variables, net ecosystem exchange, evapotranspiration, as well as CH4 or N2O emissions can be calculated with high resolution and frequency.
