The marsh ecology proram (MERP): the organization and administration of a long-termm mesocosm study

In 1978, the Delta Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Station and Ducks Unlimited Canada developed a joint venture to study the impact of different water levels during a wet-dry cycle on the composition and rate of nutrient cycling (N, P, and C) of prairie, lacustrine wetlands. Changes in water levels associated with wet-dry climatic cycles are a characteristic of all prairie wetlands. An experimental marsh complex consisting of 10 rectangular mesocosms, each with an area of at least 5 ha, was constructed by diking a section of the Delta Marsh, Manitoba, Canada. Each cell is equipped with water control structures and pumps. The hydrology, water chemistry (surface and interstitial) vegetation, invertebrates, and vertebrates (waterfowl, blackbirds, muskrats) of each cell have been monitored during each growing season since 1980