Laboratories

IRMS Laboratory

Expertise and instrumentation to explore stable isotope distributions in soil and aquatic environments.

Analytical Laboratory

Freshwater Chemistry Research Station

The research station studies the key processes that affect the functioning of aquatic ecosystems, such as nutrient input and nutrient cycling between land and water. We quantify the main matter and energy flows in freshwater ecosystems and elucidate how nutrient fluxes integrate with biological and biochemical dynamics.

Anaerobic and Molecular Microbiology Laboratory

The laboratory is dedicated to the study of diversity of functional groups of organisms and their interactions in soil and sediment nitches differing in availability of oxygen.

Aquatic Mesocosm Unit

The main focus is placed on the measurement of functional dependencies in freshwater ecosystems by combining laboratory experiments, mesocosm arrays, and in situ studies, with emphasis on ecosystems under anthropogenic stress.

Freshwater Biology Research Station

The research station team is able to determine how predator-prey interactions involving top predators (i.e., fishes in reservoirs and predatory macroinvertebrates in smaller fishless waters) affect, via top-down effects, trophic cascades and potential ecological regime shifts. We follow direct and indirect impacts of anthropogenic stress on individuals, populations, and communities through (i) alterations in habitat and niche […]

Plant-soil Functional Laboratory

The laboratory mainly deals with plant-microbial interactions in terrestrial ecosystems. It is mainly focused on differences in C:N:P stoichiometry between plant material entering the soil and soil microbial biomass, which determine the relationship between C:N:P sequestration into the soil OM and its mineralization. We are able to characterize the rhizodeposition quality and elemental stoichiometry under N […]

Laboratory of Organic Matter Chemistry

The laboratory focuses on the interaction of plant litter with litter-associated soil biota. The processing of leaf litter affects not only the release of nutrients, but also the formation of soil aggregates and, consequently, the formation of the entire soil profile. These processes connect composition of soil biota community with plant litter quality on one side […]

Experimental Catchment

Experimental catchment will consist of a set of instruments placed within two parallel microcatchments, which allows the measurement of the input of water and nutrients, along with outputs of water and nutrients from the catchment and the balance of OM accumulated in the catchment. Complex balance of matter and energy in the catchment can then be […]

Biogeochemistry Laboratory

The laboratory focuses on the transformations of C, P, and Fe on the gradient of settling seston – i.e. sediment diagenesis; the role of the different electron acceptors in the particle-associated C, P, Fe cycling; the fate of bioavailable Fe in reservoirs; and the overall methane emission from temperate reservoirs. We describe in-situ sediment properties and use […]

Lake Hydrodynamics Laboratory

The laboratory focuses on the detailed study of complex water movements in and above the sediments, which have a key influence on sediment/particle physics and chemistry, with special emphasis on the importance of sediment disturbances or flush events for the freshwater ecosystem. Using a set of both laboratory and field ADP and ADCP instruments, we cover […]

Microbial Ecology of Nitrogen and Carbon Cycling (MENCC)

The laboratory focuses on studying organisms involved in the aerobic oxidation of mineral nitrogen and methane.