PLANAQUA

The animal facility allows the manipulation of environmental variables and regular, repeated measurements to study physiological mechanisms in a precise manner. The platform is used for research at the individual level in the field of ecophysiology, evolutionary and behavioural ecology and ecotoxicology. Research topics include the role of maternal effects in the response to climate change, the ecophysiology of host-parasite interactions (immunity, stress), genetics and plasticity of life history traits, and the impacts of heavy metals on individuals. The animal facility also meets the needs of mesocosms and artificial lakes.

The aquatic macrocosms platform comprises 16 “artificial lakes” of 750 m3, equipped with automatic instrumentation, allowing researchers to work in conditions very close to the natural environment. Each lake is equipped with a device for continuous measurement of physico-chemical parameters in the water column (oxygen, temperature at three different depth) and is characterised by the presence of 2 shallow littoral zones planted with macrophytes. The aquatic macrocosms are capable of supporting chain-top species for long periods of time, have realistic food webs, and are characterised by a spatial complexity close to that of natural ecosystems. Unique in the world, they thus make it possible to address issues that are rarely addressed experimentally: couplings, complementarities, transfers between the pelagic zone, the littoral zone and the benthic zone; or those related to the dynamics and complexity of animal communities at the top of the chain.

The aquatic mesocosms platform is dedicated to the experimental study of aquatic ecosystems, and includes a set of highly complementary experimental basins for exploring the dynamics of stagnant freshwater ecosystems. The evolutionary and functional dimensions of aquatic ecosystems can be addressed, as well as the constraints related to physical heterogeneity (turbulence and sediments) and temperature increase. The platform includes three types of experimental basins (standard ex situ mesocosms, wave-beater mesocosms and in situ mesocosms suspended from a floating pontoon), allowing different types of questions to be answered. The facility allows experimenters to carry out a large number of in situ measurements in an automated or ad hoc manner thanks to a fleet of dedicated instruments. The experimental systems are supplied with water from the urban network or from rainwater recovery.