A tide prediction and tide height control system for laboratory mesocosms
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Aquaculture, Fisheries and Fish Science, Ecology, Marine Biology
- Keywords
- intertidal, estuary, shore height, mesocosm, Spartina foliosa
- Copyright
- © 2015 Miller et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2015. A tide prediction and tide height control system for laboratory mesocosms. PeerJ PrePrints 3:e1473v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1473v1
Abstract
Experimental mesocosm studies of rocky shore and estuarine intertidal systems may benefit from the application of natural tide cycles to better replicate variation in immersion time, water depth, and attendant fluctuations in abiotic and edaphic conditions. Here we describe a stand-alone microcontroller tide prediction open-source software program, coupled with a mechanical tidal elevation control system, which allows continuous adjustment of aquarium water depths in synchrony with local tide cycles. We used this system to monitor the growth of Spartina foliosa marsh cordgrass and scale insect herbivores at three simulated shore elevations in laboratory mesocosms. Plant growth decreased with increasing shore elevation, while scale insect population growth on the plants was not strongly affected by immersion time. This system shows promise for a range of laboratory mesocosm studies where natural tide cycling could impact organism performance or behavior, while the tide prediction system could additionally be utilized in field experiments where treatments need to be applied at certain stages of the tide cycle.
Author Comment
This is a preprint submission to PeerJ.