Addressing grand ecological challenges in aquatic ecosystems: How can mesocosms be used to advance solutions?

Rapid and drastic anthropogenic impacts are affecting global biogeochemical processes and driving biodiversity loss across Earth’s ecosystems. In aquatic ecosystems, species distributions are shifting, abundances of many species have declined dramatically, and many are threatened with extinction. In addition to loss of diversity, the ecosystem functions, processes and services on which humans depend are also being heavily impacted. Addressing these challenges not only requires direct action to mitigate environmental impacts but also innovative approaches to identify, quantify and treat their effects in the environment. Mesocosms are valuable tools for achieving these goals as they provide controlled environments for evaluating effects of stressors and testing novel mitigation measures at multiple levels of biological organisation. Here, we summarise discussions from a survey of marine and freshwater researchers who use mesocosm systems to synthesise their opportunities and limitations f..., A survey titled “Mesocosms as a tool to address grand challenges: current research and future opportunities in aquatic ecology” was designed using the SurveyMonkey online survey-building platform and was tested and adapted based on test feedback prior to distribution. Distribution of the survey was primarily achieved via email and social media platforms. The survey link was also advertised on the aquacosm.eu home webpage. The survey was open for responses for five months from April 28th to September 31st, 2022. Survey participants were informed of the purpose of the study, the method for gathering data, the use(s) of gathered data and the process of data storage. All contributors consented to participating in the survey according to these ethical guidelines and the use of gathered data in publication. Participant data was stored in compliance with GDPR.
A diverse group of researchers across different aquatic ecosystems was targeted, including both freshwater and marine environments to f..., , # Addressing grand ecological challenges in aquatic ecosystems: How can mesocosms be used to advance solutions?

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jm63xsjn0](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jm63xsjn0)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### File: Survey\_responses\_collated\_data.xlsx

**Description:** Response data collated for the survey; “*Mesocosms as a tool to address grand challenges: current research and future opportunities in aquatic ecology”*

##### Variables

* Applied research category (either *Environmental threat* or *Solution*).
* Environmental threat or solution topic (i.e. \"grand challenge\")
* Aquatic system (*Still freshwater, Running freshwater,* or* Marine*).
* Responses (number of responses)
* Skipped (number of respondents who skipped this answer (but provided demographic information, etc.))
* 1\. No research in this area (percentage of respondents who selected this weighting to indicate how much research has been done in each topic...