Experimental enhancement of Coastal Antarctic Production

Present knowledge point to the control of coastal planktonic production in Antarctica by biological and physical factors. However, our present knowledge on these control mechanisms is still poor, and we are, as yet, unable to predict the magnitude and fate of Antarctic planktonic production.

The different hypotheses on the regulation of the planktonic production in the Antarctic coast must, therefore, be subject to experimental manipullation at a relevant scale, allowing the observation of the entire system. The goal of this project is to conduct the experimental work with mesocosms needed to test the importance of different control mechanisms of Antarctic coastal production, to produce a prodictive model, which will be tested against a detailed time series.