Studying Effects of Contaminants on Aquatic-Terrestrial Subsidies: Experimental Designs Using Outdoor and Indoor Mesocosms and Microcosms

Research on the subsidy of terrestrial ecosystems by resources of aquatic origin has increased over the last few decades. Only a few studies, however, assess this cross-boundary linkage with specific consideration of contaminant-induced effects. This data gap might be attributed to the complexity required for experimental designs to adequately assess the impacts of chemical stressors on aquatic ecosystems’ ability to subsidise adjacent terrestrial food webs. In this book chapter, we discuss experimental designs using both outdoor and indoor mesocosms and microcosms to explicitly address hypotheses related to chemical stress in aquatic ecosystems and their consequences for the subsidy of adjacent terrestrial (e.g. riparian) ecosystems. We, moreover, highlight the importance of characterising not only the quantity but also the quality of these subsidies and discuss the potential of stable isotope analysis for disentangling trophic interactions within and among aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.