The Marker Wadden is a newly constructed archipelago in lake Markermeer, which aims to improve the lake’s degrading food web by stimulating primary productivity. The archipelago consists of five islands that add a currently missing habitat type to the lake: shallow, sheltered waters with high nutrient availability and gradual land-water transitions.

A total of 40 mesocosms are distributed in five rows of eight mesocosms with a spacing of 0.5 m between them. In spring/summer we grow plant species that are currently expanding their range within Europe and species that belong to the same genus while being native in the Netherlands.

This is a facility for keeping waterfowl for behavioural and physiological research. The facility consists of an outdoor aviary and a building for birds indoors.

Plants and microorganisms emit a wide range of chemically diverse volatile compounds. These volatiles mediate swift chemical interactions and communication in both aquatic and terrestrial environments, and carry out important ecological functions.

The NIOO stable isotope facility is part of the chemical analytical lab, with equipment and facilities to perform stable isotope tracer experiments. Stable isotopes (13C) can be analysed in PLFA, gases (CO2/CH4) , (13C/15N) solid material (e.g. soil, plant material, bird feathers) as well as in DNA and RNA and breath samples of birds (D/H).

Fatty acids such as Phospholipid (PLFA), neutral lipid fatty acids (NLFA) and Ergosterol (total fungal biomass) are used to assess microbial biomass and community structure in soil and other types of environmental samples. This facility provides all the equipment and knowledge required for the determination and quantification of PLFA, NLFA and Ergosterol.

The sperm lab houses state-of-the-art equipment used for the analysis of sperm.This includes a computer-assisted sperm-analysis (CASA) system for accurate and automatic assessment of sperm motility and a microscope/camera/software combination for digital image analysis of sperm morphology.

The limnotrons are twelve stainless steel indoor mesocosms with a high level of control. The dimensions are: 0.97 m in diameter, 1.32 m (side) and 1.37 m (centre) depth, and a maximum volume of 922 L. In addition to the possibility of sampling vertically with specifically designed integrated water samplers, sampling can also be done by using the sampling ports positioned at three depths. The vessels are equipped with automatic sensors (oxygen, temperature, light), which can make pre-programmed depth profiles.

Flowcytometry (FCM) is a technique that distinguishes individual particles based on light scatter and fluorescence. A large advantage is that FCM can analyse and sort cells at a very high speed of up to 10,000 cells/second.