1000 individually-controlled microcosms to assess ecological impacts in Canadian ecosystems, aquaculture, and agriculture

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Canadian aquaculture and agriculture will be subject to a complex mix of global change in combination with local stressors. With our combined engineering-ecological expertise we will develop and apply a platform for measuring organism and community responses to multiple environmental parameters. This work is enabled by the novel concept of an aerogel-based gas gradient generator that achieves unprecedented control of local CO2 and O2 concentration over microwells. This gas control technology will be combined with projection optics and microwell plate-based liquid handling to enable experiments with 1000+ parallel treatments for full-factorial data sets with a wide spectrum of characteristically different parameters. The 3-year deliverable is a commercialization-ready screening platform capable of quantifying the response of model microorganisms, flora, and fauna to key environmental variables. The project provides data directly relevant to Canadian aquaculture (Nova Harvest) and agriculture (POS Biosciences) and leverages Canadian product development excellence (Quorum Technologies). **Both the method and the data produced through this project directly address the "Environment and Agriculture" target area. Specifically, we will qualify the impact of global and local anthropogenic stressors on the aquatic environment. Moreover, the technology will equip a broad range of Canadian companies to adapt agriculture and aquaculture for a changing climate. **In close partnership with Canadian leaders aquaculture (Nova Harvest), agriculture (POS Biosciences), and device development (Quorum Technologies), this project will provide both industry-ready screening technology, and develop outstanding HQP with new tools to assess climate change impacts in Canada and worldwide.