Research Infrastructure. Biology Green house Description : Infrastructure dedicated to living animals under controlled environment and vegetals cultures for teachings and Alpine garden Collections and researches. Users : Researchers ans PhD/trainees, Alpine Garden Staff.

PLANAQUA is the National experimental platform in Aquatic Ecology . It consists of 3 levels of research platforms : Microcosms, from one to several litres of volume, can be used in the plankton-dedicated laboratory to set up continuous cultures experiments. They can also be used in the climatic chambers of the Ecotron IleDeFrance, a device that allows the precise conditioning of the environment and the detailed monitoring of states and activities of organisms and ecosystems. Microcosms allow studying plankton communities in marine or freshwater ecosystems under highly controlled environmental conditions such as temperature, irradiance, nutrients, and gas concentrations. A series of dedicated sensors enables monitoring of gas exchange (O2 and CO2) between the air and the water in the experimental system and to follow the related plankton metabolic activity. Mesocosms, with a volume of several cubic metres, have a high degree of replication. They are installed outdoors and equipped with devices for the experimental control of thermal gradients and water mixing. For example, twelve mesocosms are equipped with beaters that generate waves, making it possible to control the physical structure of the water column. These tools have been developed for studying the link between physical constraints and the functioning of aquatic systems. The large volume of these mesocosms (15 m3) makes it possible to house complex communities of organisms. Sixteen artificial lakes of 650 m3 have been conceived for incorporating the natural complexity of the environment and the spatially heterogeneous nature of ecological processes in natural ecosystems. These very large experimental systems, shaped with littoral, benthic and pelagic zones, will be inter-connected to each other by dispersal channels and equipped with automated sensors and data loggers. The artificial lakes will facilitate the studies on the functioning of complex communities with heterogeneous spatial distributions, and will allow understanding and managing the consequences of anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity, up to the species at the top of the food chains.

This platform provide all the tools and skills required for answering fundamental or applied research questions in ecology, ecotoxicology, evolutionary biology, etc. It hosts multidisciplinary programs with applied issues concerning the evolutions of aquatic ecosystems under contrasted stressors: local stress (due to agricultural, industrial, urban activities) and/or global stress (due to climate change, but also to changes in land use or biological invasions). The PEARL facility consists in: - an experimental complex of two multipurpose halls (400 m² each), greenhouses (250 m²), an outdoor pond platform (500 m²) and about sixty aquatic mesocosms, located on the Rennes Agrocampus Ouest site. - A “pond” station of around 30 ponds (total surface of 5ha), in Le Rheu near Rennes.