Services

The Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Bergen (UiB) is responsible for the Marine Biological Station at Espeland (MBSE). The station is located at the fjord, Raunefjord, 20 km south of downtown Bergen (and the main campus of UiB) and close to the airport, Flesland, about 3 kilometres or 15 minutes away.

Espegrend Marine Biological Station: The fjord systems around Espeland are considered as a Scandinavian biodiversity hot-spot and the MBSE provide easy access to highly diverse and welldescribed marine habitats and model environments in the fjords.

The station comprises a boat, equipment house, several open smaller motorboats, a larger research vessel (20 feet) and all basic equipment for marine field research. The Infrastructure on land includes multiple laboratories (chemistry lab, isotope minilab for 14C and 3H, live lab, formalin lab, 3 walk-in cold rooms with running seawater and light control, general lab equipment such as freezers and ovens, Milli-Q water, a cooled centrifuge, microscopes, etc.), a larger teaching lab and an auditorium, dormitories for up to 30 visitors, a large kitchen, and combined dining and living room

The University of Bergen Mesocosm Centre (UIB-MC) is part of MBSE. It offers a wide range of opportunities for marine mesocosm experiments. The facility includes a floating platform with 12 enclosures in the Raunefjord (10-30 m3 each) plus 18 landbased outdoor mesocosms (2.5 m3), both located at UIB’s Marine Biological Station. A unique feature of the enclosures in the fjord is a floating raft that provides high-quality wet-lab space and electricity for immediate sample processing and lab-based measurements of samples.

The mesocosm facility at MBSE was initiated in 1978 and has since been continued with few interruptions. This makes the mesocosms facility at MBSE the longest existing in the world, entailing the longest experimental track record for mesocosm studies of pelagic ecosystems. Due to the short distances to all kinds of biotopes and thanks to the equipment on board the research vessels, it is easy to carry living animals’ home to the aquaria at the marine station.

Algae and deep-water animals can easily be collected and brought back to the laboratory alive, as many of them occur at quite shallow depths in the fjords and as the temperature of the surface water is low. Thus within 15 minutes of being collected, specimens can be transferred to aquaria where they can survive for months, permitting studies of even their larval development. The proximity (15 min) to a large international airport also gives MBSE unique opportunities both in terms of short-term collection visits and remote access activities.

A particularly important feature is that researchers have an opportunity to verify experimental results in settings of increasing complexity, ranging from laboratory-based studies to well controlled outdoor mesocosms on land and enclosures in the fjord. In addition, experimental results can be compared with observational data from a wide range of natural pelagic environments, given that the Norwegian west coast is the only place in Europe with close access to both coastal and oceanic environments.

Bioresources available

At our facilities we have experience with working with many species of marine and freshwater fish, depending on the type of research and wishes of the TNA guest.

Support offered

Users will have access to mesocosms, laboratories and office space. Technical expertise/assistance will be provided both in connection with sampling activities and the use of the mesocosms facilities. Boarding at the station will be possible for shorter or longer periods. MBSE will also offer remote access options (collection, packing or dispatch). The possibility of collecting organisms from an extremely large diversity of marine habitats (deep sea, underwater mountains to intertidal areas) together with the proximity to an international airport will make remote access from MBSE an attractive activity. Scientific cooperation with UiB scientists will facilitate access to additional facilities (e.g., specialised state-of-theart laboratories at the main campus in downtown Bergen, 20km away), instruments, and expertise of local staff.

Modality of access

The method used to declare access costs is unit cost (person/day). A minimum of 100 person/days are 101 needed to conduct experiments using the mesocosms or other MBSE facilities or for successful field sampling in the marine environment. To support increased international cooperation and foster adaptation of new approaches and techniques, individual users and smaller groups will be invited to apply for TA in support of projects at the MBSE facilities. Furthermore, to enhance scientific progress and output, efforts will be made to coordinate the TA activities with other ongoing and planned projects.