Platforms

Operational since 2018, it features 12 large climate-controlled chambers, each consisting of (i) a sunlit atmospheric compartment (dome) containing the vegetation and (ii) a belowground compartment containing the soil (lysimeter). A wide range of atmosphere and soil parameters can be set and controlled to simulate different environments (CO₂ levels, temperature, air humidity, rainfall, wind, etc.), while more are monitored at high time and spatial resolution (e.g. soil water content and composition). At the same time, the system continuously measures the response of the ecosystem to these factors: CO₂ exchange with the atmosphere in photosynthesis and respiration, methane exchange, water loss, soil nutrient fluxes, etc.  Within AnaEE-Europe, Ecotrons are the most advanced and heavily instrumented facilities for ecosystem studies.

Facility to experimentally simulate the impact on ecosystems of future precipitation regimes, climate-warming and especially climate extremes such as intense droughts and heat waves (e.g. temperatures up to 10 °C above ambient). By using infrared heaters and automated rainout shelters with programmable irrigation, the system can simulate such extreme events in open air, in twelve 7 m² plots, under natural light and wind conditions. It is operational since 2019. The platform is complementary with ecotrons as it tracks fewer ecosystem processes fully automatically, but can host many more experimental units (> 400). This allows for studies with (i) large numbers of levels per experimental factor and many replicates, (ii) multiple interacting factors, (iii) multiple biodiversity levels.

This indoor platform focuses on the study of agro-ecosystems and is currently composed of 6 units in which climatic variables (radiation, air temperature and humidity, precipitation, CO2 and O3 concentration) are continuously monitored and controlled. Lysimeters feature a surface area of 2 m² and are 1.5 m deep, with vegetation height limited to 1.5 m. Soil temperature and water potential are conditioned at the bottom of the lysimeter. Gas fluxes (CO2, H2O, N2O, O3) and sensible energy from the ecosystem, soil temperature, water content and matric potential vertical profiles, as well as water leachate amounts are all measured automatically. Leachate water can also be sampled manually for chemical composition (e.g. carbon, pesticides, etc.).
The University of Liège recently acquired €1438300 to extend the TERRA-ECOTRON with new climate-controlled rooms and improved soil instrumentation. This funding was granted by the Walloon Region as part of a Research Equipment-Infrastructure Grant for Technological Platforms of Excellence.

ME-RAU is a new cost-efficient set of small ecotrons with mobile lysimeters currently being built. The system encompasses 8 gas-tight climate chambers where users can install either 24 ecosystem mesocosms in lysimeters holding soil cores of 20 cm in diameter, or 8 ecosystem mesocosms in lysimeters holding soil cores of 50 cm in diameter. In either case the lysimeters have depths of 90 cm. This smaller size allows mobile application, the lysimeters could be exchanged between field and ecotrons. Technical characteristics of the climate regulation and sampling of ecosystem functioning data one-to-one resemble the settings of the Macro-scale Ecotron of UHasselt with the only differences being (1) the climate chambers are illuminated with artificial light allowing a year-round experimentation; (2) soil data is sampled at depth 3 locations (10, 30, 60 cm).