Short-Term Projects and Experiments

Experiments are a core component of PIE-LTER research, as they increase our understanding of natural systems.

Sulfur hexafluoride concentration in the Parker River Estuary on successive high tides during a gas-exchange experiment.

STP-PR-Mesocosm.htm
Mesocosm Experiment
An experiment to determine how different levels of dissolved organic matter and dissolved inorganic nutrients alter food web dynamics and how much of the dissolved organic material supported higher trophic levels. Mesocosms were used with four different nutrient and organic matter applications with ¹³C additions to trace the sources of carbon from one trophic level to another. For a further description and discussion of this experiment, see "What Feeds the Fish? Understanding the Links Between Land Use and Coastal Food Webs": STPMesocosm.htm

PHY-PR-SF6.htm
Direct Measurement of Gas Exchange Rates in the Parker River Estuary
Ecosystem processes such as respiration, denitrification, and methanogenesis may be quantified by measuring the flux of gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane. These fluxes must be corrected for the non-biological or diffusive flux of the gas of interest between the water and the atmosphere. This study directly measured the gas exchange rates in the Parker River Plum Island Sound Estuary. For a further description and discussion of this experiment, see "Direct Measurement of Gas Exchange Rates in the Parker River Estuary": PHYSF6Description.htm

STP-VA-OMInterIntro.htm
LMER Food Web Intercomparison Workshop
Organic matter budgets, C and N economies, stable isotope data for food web functional groups, and model predictions for estuaries with varying organic matter sources