Facilities

Water isotope facility

Our water isotope facility comprises a stable isotope analyser for water vapour and liquid water samples and a multiplexed vacuum distillation line. We have also built recently a fog collector for water isotope analysis that we will use in our project HydroBeech. More information on our water isotope facility can be found here.

 

← Bastien working on MEDUSA, our cryogenic vacuum distillation line.

Gas lab facility

Our gas lab facility comprises different laser spectroscopy analysers for measuring stable isotope ratios in CO₂, water vapour and liquid water, as well as OCS. We also have different systems for automatic measurements of gas exchange on soil monoliths or single leaves in the lab or on soil plots or branches in the field. The lab is also equipped with three climate-controlled chambers for acclimating soil microcosms or entire plants. You will find more information on our soil gas exchange systems here. More information on our leaf gas exchange systems are also available there.

To book a piece of equipment from the gas lab for your project, go on the calendar view here (password protected).

Field sites

Most of our research is conducted in the field, in multi-instrumented sites to understand the response of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change and extreme climatic events.

← Measuring platform at Le Bray site, in les Landes de Gascogne, 20km south-west of Bordeaux, France.

Many members of the team have also helped construct and interpret many of the findings from the FACE (Free-Air CO₂ Enrichment) experiments. These impressive structures are built to increase over several years the CO₂ concentration of the air around the trees to levels expected in the coming decades.

The EucFACE site at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment. →

 

 

 

 

 

Ecosystem modelling

The EcoFun team has also a strong expertise in the modelling of micrometeorological and ecophysiological processes involved in the biogeochemical cycling of energy, water and carbon within soils and vegetation canopies. In particular, the team develops the ecosystem-scale model MuSICA taht describes how energy, water, CO₂ and other trace gases (ozone, COS, CO₂ and water isotopes) are being exchanged within complex canopies comprising multiple species and vegetation layers.

← Schematics summarising the main features of the MuSICA model. More information on the MuSICA model can be found here.