MESOCOSM Definition & Meaning

mesocosm

[ mee-zuh-koz-uhm, mez-uh- ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

Environmental Science.

a relatively large, controlled outdoor experimental environment or ecosystem, as opposed to one in a laboratory: Compare microcosm ( def 3 ).
The research facility, with 50 3,000-liter shallow freshwater mesocosms, is one of Europe's largest.

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of mesocosm¹

First recorded in 1980–85; meso- ( def ) + -cosm ( def )

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

“You have so little space and a limited system. In the mesocosm, you are manipulating a natural system.”

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These mesocosm canopies looked much like a pop-up canopy tent, but with mesh screen sides.

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Best says that her mesocosm experiments are more sophisticated and realistic than lab studies, but less easy to control.

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In each mesocosm, one plant was surrounded by a mesh penetrated by holes half a micron across.

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Then, four days from the end, one of the 40-micron meshes in each mesocosm was rotated to sever any hyphae that had penetrated it, and the central plant was then infested with aphids.

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