Explore six modular living habitats joined inside one semi-closed ecological enclosure. Follow recent readings, species records, and the workshop history of how water, energy, and biological matter move through the build.
A closer look at what is changing inside miniBIOTA.
miniBIOTA is a living system in progress. Follow the observations, design changes, and ecological records that show how the biosphere is coming together.
Latest Field Note
June 11, 2026
A weekly field note from the miniBIOTA system: what changed, what was observed, and what we are watching next.
Six 29-gallon glass tanks are physically linked to form a continuous living biosphere, spanning freshwater lakes, muddy shorelines, lowland meadows, mangrove wetlands, and marine margins.
Microbial biofilms, mangrove root zones, benthic macroalgae, and detritivores recycle nutrients and break down organic matter within the habitats where they live.
By housing these habitats within a calibrated physical enclosure, we can observe environmental feedback loops, diurnal cycles, and species interactions evolving in real time.
Earth’s ecological cycles can feel distant when studied only through abstract diagrams and textbooks. The intricate interplay between moisture, atmospheric temperature, and living organisms is difficult to appreciate without seeing it in motion.
miniBIOTA bridges that gap by housing a functioning biosphere inside the studio. By physically connecting aquatic, intertidal, and terrestrial habitats, visitors and researchers can observe how energy, water, and biological matter move across a complete living system.
Public species records, field notes, and available temperature and humidity readings show what has been observed without filling gaps with simulated data.
Water circulates through an engineered elevation gradient and dedicated PEX plumbing lines. Gravity moves freshwater from the upper lake through the shoreline and meadow soils, while mechanical wave displacers generate tidal surges across the marine margin.
Four vertical atmosphere processors were built to condense rising moisture against cooled rear glass and return it as rain. That cycle was demonstrated during active cooling; the chiller is currently offline for pump repair. Within the habitats, biofilms, root networks, and detritivores process nutrients biologically.
Get field notes when new species are added, biomes expand, and the living system changes.