RAU Ecotron (UHasselt, CMK)

The Rapid Assessment Units (RAUs) are experimental units designed for fast, focused studies on specific environmental impacts, allowing researchers to conduct experiments on the effects of factors like droughts, frost, or changes in soil composition, in a controlled, yet highly realistic environment. The RAUs are cost-effective and flexible, providing valuable data that can quickly address pressing scientific questions related to climate change and ecosystem functioning. With the ability to rapidly simulate and monitor climate change scenarios over short to mediumterm periods (1 week to 6 months), the RAUs are ideal for targeted experiments on the effects of specific environmental changes. This capability makes the RAUs particularly useful for hypothesis testing and provides a complementary approach to the longer-term, large-scale experiments conducted within the Large Terrestrial Research Units (LTRUs).