AnaEE-Flanders: Integrated infrastructure for experimental ecosystem research (R-13829)

Threats of global change to natural resources and food security can be countered by ecosystembased societal adaptation. This requires insights in ecosystem functioning, and experimental testing of nature-based solutions, under simulated future conditions. AnaEE-Flanders was designed to meet these needs. Through a new generation of experimental facilities embedded in the ESFRI AnaEE, we can unravel the impacts of a wide variety of interacting environmental pressures on ecosystem services and develop innovative solutions. The state-of-the-art, openaccess platforms, among which ecotrons, can encompass both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and both managed and natural ones. By detecting non-linearity in global change responses they can also reveal critical thresholds for ecosystem collapse. We focus the research on two domains with high societal impact and opportunities for industry: the agro-ecological transition in agriculture, and the water crisis where multiple environmental pressures come together such as pollution, drought and flooding. With the requested funding we intend to become a mature infrastructure and cornerstone in the European landscape for environmental research

Keywords:experimental, future-oriented global change impact research

Disciplines:Soil ecology, Ecology not elsewhere classified, Other biological sciences not elsewhere classified, Ecosystem services

Project type:Collaboration project