System diagnosis using experiments and modelling

The AKWA teams uses a combination of smart monitoring, experimentation and modelling to diagnose underlying problems compromising the ecological status of aquatic ecosystems.  Similar to what a medical doctor would do, we analyze the main pressures and analyze vital functions of the ecosystem. In aquatic systems, this implies that you quantify a water and nutrient budget, and analyze the foodweb structure.  This assessment gives a first understanding of the main pressures. Subsequently, we run potential mitigation scenarios using the ecosystem model PCLake+.  Both large and small scale experimentation will subsequently give a better understanding of the dose-effect relationships of the promising mitigation measures.