Just one more month left, and I will conclude the current ExOPond experiment. It feels strange that it's nearly complete, as I spent months with this experiment. But it's also good to finally finish it, as I now can prepare for another experiment (more on that when it's actually up and running).

Time does really fly. Here's an example of how the mesocosm plants serve as an indicator of seasonal changes.

I had a great time at BESAG Annual Meeting this week in London. Got the opportunity to present my research, as well as hearing many interesting talks. Many thanks to BES Aquatic Group for organising this event, and to Zoological Society of London, London Zoo for hosting us. #BESAG 2025 #ZSL

Introducing our new pond mesocosms (aka ExOPond) @ucddublin.bsky.social and the first experiment by @isacbrander.bsky.social youtu.be/HrRQEVnMurU?...

Some footage of a Daphnia cluster in one of my mesocosm ponds, provided by my supervisor, Marcin Penk.

Last week, the lab group collected the first batch of benthic traps from ExOPond. They were filled with lots of macroinvertebrates, including damselflies. In summary, a succesful first sampling. I'm grateful that most of our lab group managed to help me this week. Thanks guys! 🙂

Like everyone else in Dublin, I've been enjoying last week's weather. However, I'm also a little annoyed that I have to top up the ponds with extra water again already. 😅 It's only been a week since last time.

It's nice to see how far the ponds have matured. I have even some newly molted damselflies flying out from them. Almost feel bad that my experiment is going to involve a drought event. 😅

After months of work, I'm nearly done setting up ExOPond, a new freshwater mesocosm system at UCD Rosemount Environmental Research Station. Some preperations remain for my upcoming experiment on resilience and food web manipulation, but I'm getting there.