<b>A </b><b>M</b><b>asterclass in Aquatic Microbial </b><b>I</b><b>ncubation </b><b>E</b><b>xperiments: probing aquatic responses to stressors and changing nutrient dynamics (graduate level – English).</b>Aquatic ecosystems are complicated and respond dynamically to top-down (e.g. grazing) and bottom-up (e.g. nutrient limitation) drivers. Investigating key drivers of change in the environment, such as temperature, acidification, and nutrient dynamics, provides fundamental insight into how natural systems <span style="font-size: 1em;">work, and how ecosystems will respond to future environmental change because of global warming, ocean acidification and other impacts of climate change. Yet conducting experiments to probe these interactions between drivers and ecosystems are challenging, especially concerning the simultaneous interactions between multiple drivers of change. Poor experiment design limits our understanding of these dynamics as it is challenging to compare results from different experiments under different conditions conducted by different groups around the world.</span> In this course we will investigate the inherent limits of experiments and learn handling techniques to reduce undesired side-effects and variability in incubation experiments. Through a combination of lectures, workshops, and demonstrations we will learn how to improve our experiment designs and make our work more useful to the scientific community.<br/>