Making realistic wave climates in low‐cost wave mesocosms: a new tool for experimental ecology and biogeomorphology

Wave flume facilities that are primarily designed for engineering studies are often complex and expensive to operate, and hence not ideal for long‐term replicated experiments as commonly used in biology. This study describes a low‐cost small wave flume that can be used for biological purposes using fresh‐ or seawater with or without sediment. The wave flume can be used as a mesocosm to study interactions between wave hydrodynamics and benthic organisms in aquatic ecosystems. The low‐costs wave maker (−1 representing shallow coastal areas with a short fetch. The system can generate both regular waves (i.e., the wave period and orbital velocity remains constant), using a wave absorber, and irregular waves (i.e., varying wave period and orbital velocity) using a fast push and slow pull motion of the wave paddle. This wave mesocosm system is particularly useful in biogeomorphology to quantify interactions between organisms, sediment, and hydrodynamics and for aquatic ecologist aiming to simulate realistic bed shear stress where short‐ and long‐term experiments (weeks–months) can be replicated.