Mechanical device that shows the complexity of the food chain
CAI Tong 蔡同 XIONG Tianqi 熊天琦 WU Yanyun 吴滟芸
The most common sense of the food chain is that the higher the food chain level symbolizes the more powerful the species. But this classification is superficial.
Food chains are complex and stochastic, and an animal can alternate between different levels while being preyed upon (in a broad sense) by another animal much smaller than it.
Our device shows the different positions occupied by the same species in different ecosystems. For example, the mosquito is higher than humans when it is located in an urban ecosystem feeding on human blood. On the contrary, it is preyed upon by insectivores such as frogs when it is in a pond ecosystem.
Sometimes appearing at what time and location may be far more important than the individual’s functions. But more than that, the matter continues to circulate where we cannot see it, thus closing the loop of the food chain.
Biosphere 3 shows the different positions occupied by the same species in different ecosystems. We represent the animal by different sizes of gears, the red wheel represents the mosquito while its longitudinal movement represents the trophic level change in the food chain, and the lateral movement represents the length of its life. The flashing light bar below represents the decomposition process. After the device is opened, the rotation direction of the other gears indicates the number change of organisms in the ecological niche caused by the presence of mosquitoes.
Comparing the two sides of the device, we want to discuss this phenomenon without judgment, hoping that the viewer will step out of the subjective perspective and enter the closed loop of the food chain during the brief engagement.