The experimental laboratory consists of a glass greenhouse with 36 experimental tanks made of cement and corrosion protection, with manual and individual control of flooding and environmental temperature. In addition, a space for the production of 27,000 mangrove seedlings or forest species, covered by an anti-aphid mesh tunnel and manual micro-sprinkler system.
In addition to having a warehouse for various materials and another for chemical products and a laboratory where physiological and dendroecology analyzes are carried out. It has semi-automated equipment, two systems through hydrological management, temperature and environmental humidity, with precision and management of broad environmental scenarios, collection of continuous and precise data through sensors for measuring the tide level, interstitial water chemistry and soil at different gradients as well as methane (CH4) measurements.
It develops innovative and high-tech scientific research, with an infrastructure that does not exist at the national level, much less with the equipment that is available in three laboratories to determine water, soil, plant tissue and phytohormones (consult laboratories on this page); thus allowing high-level research to be carried out. Specifically, this experimental infrastructure facilitates the short-term recording of functional changes in the different mangrove species and other forest species, associated with modifications in the natural patterns of topography, hydroperiod and temperature, as well as the chemistry of interstitial water and soil. simulating the impacts generated on the vegetation, as a consequence of anthropic activity (change in land use, pollutants, etc.), hydrometeorological events and climatic variation.
Likewise, it helps to determine effects on ecological processes, degree of tolerance, phenotypic plasticity and resilience, in mangrove species that are distributed along the coasts of Mexico. It generates information that allows the development of high quality mangrove seedlings, using different species to increase the success and decrease costs in restoration programs (rehabilitation and / or reforestation), as well as information on gene transfer in genetic improvement programs for the definition of the germplasm selection criteria.
