In this video we take a look into the Woodland Stream Ecosphere. (Also known as the parasite ecosphere.) It has been over a year now since it's creation and a lot has happened in that time frame.

Last time I filmed this ecosphere it was 6 months old. The Amphipod population was booming. They were breeding in high numbers and without predators to control their population they soon exhausted their food supply. Worms and moss became scarce for them to eat, which caused them to begin cannibalizing. This caused their high population to shrink down to as little as 5 individuals.

The ecosystem almost instantly began to recover due to the low population of amphipods. The remaining worms could expand their range again and recolonize a majority of the ecosphere. The terrestrial moss could also recover and began sending out new growth. The remaining Amphipods which survived the population crash found themselves in a world of abundant food once again.

Strangely Ostracods hatched about 2 months ago and began breeding rapidly within the ecosphere. I had never seen them until now inside this ecosystem and believe their eggs must have been in the substrate for quite some time. Eggs can remain dormant for many years and I don't have any ideas what could have triggered them to hatch. I may have been sunlight levels, temperature or completely random. Either way it looks like they're here to stay now.

There is a very slim chance the last remaining amphipods are all males or females, however I think this is very unlikely. If that is the case their will be no future generations of amphipod. I'm hopeful they'll be able to breed this year though.

If you'd like to watch the whole journey of this ecosphere you can here:
   • Creating a Woodland Stream Ecosphere ...