Facilities

  1. Benthic Biodiversity Laboratory  

The Changing Oceans Research Group has a laboratory facility fully equipped to work with benthic macrofauna, including identification, dissection, fixation, preparation for storage and other types of analyses (e.g. digested microplastics). 

Benthic macrofauna from the Mingulay Reef Complex, western Scotland. Image: University of Edinburgh 

Equipment:  

  • Dissecting SteroMicroscope (ZEISS Discovery. V20), supplemented with Camera and the PC station – full manual available upon request 
  • Fume cupboard and ventilated cabinet with extract system available to work with preserved samples – commission report available upon request  
  • Collection of Taxonomic ID keys available in the lab 
  • Basic dissection instruments, glass and plastic dishes, common chemicals (e.g., IMS) are available in the lab, but appropriate HSE documentation is required for each project (Risk Assessments, COSHH) 
  1. Water Chemistry Laboratory 

We have facilities for full carbonate chemistry analysis, including Total Alkalinity, Dissolved Inorganic Carbon and Total pH assessment. Equipment includes the Apollo Scitech dissolved inorganic carbon analyser (AS-C3), Apollo Scitech total alkalinity analyser (AS-ALK2) and Versa Star pH meter. Carbonate chemistry standards are used to routinely check and calibrate all instruments.  

Equipment:

  • Apollo Scitech dissolved inorganic carbon analyser (AS-C3) 
  • Apollo Scitech total alkalinity analyser (AS-ALK2) 
  1. Tropical Coral Experimental Tanks  

Tropical corals can be housed in 5 separate 50L aquaria, which can all be manipulated with regard to temperature, pH, light level (and spectrum). In addition to aquaria, 2 incubators are equipped with CO2 mixing equipment to control the CO2 environment, and are suitable to perform eco-toxicology

  1. Sea-going Expeditions Equipment
  • Passive Acoustic Monitoring Equipment 

The SoundTrap 600 (ST600) is rated to 200m depth but can be upgraded by using a pressure valve to deploy up to 500m depth. The ST600 is a long long-term recorder, suitable for up to 1 year deployments. It has a bandwidth of 20HZ-150kHz, a sample rate up to 384 kS/sec and provides up to 2TB of removable data storage. This can be attached to a lander or mooring. If working in a marine protected area where anchors need to be retrieved, the deep-sea Acoustic Release Cannister (ARC) can be used. The ARC can be deployed up to 300m depth. Ropes with buoys can be attached to the canister, to which instruments can be attached. An Acoustic Release VR2AR is located inside the cannister. The ARC can be recovered by triggering the release with the VhTX-96 transponding Hydrophone and a VR100 Deckbox.