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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Rhodes chapter.

Around a week ago, I fell into the Youtube rabbit hole of closed terrariums. These ecosystems in jars may at first seem boring to the average onlooker, but upon further inspection, you’ll realize that these jars are teeming with life. 

There are two types of these closed ecosystems: aquasphere and terrarium. The differences are pretty obvious. One is filled with water, plants, and dirt. The other is filled with plants, rocks, and dirt. 

The entrance to the rabbit hole was from a small Youtube channel that goes by the name Life in Jars? The channel is about a guy who goes to local bodies of water, scoops up dirt and water in a jar, and then he just waits to see what happens. Within days, he watches the jar come to life as small snails, shrimp, nematodes, and a variety of other animals appear.

It wasn’t until I dove further, did I realize that I needed to try this out. But the idea of heading to the lake near my house and scooping up a jar of water wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. So instead, I turned to terrariums. 

Closed terrariums are perfect for creating a highly moist environment, and small invertebrates are the perfect residents for an ecosphere. 

 

How it works:

The cool thing about ecospheres is that anyone can make them because as long as you’ve got some soil, plants, rocks, and an airtight jar, you’re good to go. So in case you’re ever inclined to make one yourself, I’ve made a step-by-step guide!

  1. Get a jar. This jar can’t be so small that plants aren’t able to grow in it, but it doesn’t need to be huge. The jar also needs to be airtight so that you don’t have any moisture escaping, and whatever critters you manage to catch don’t get out. Mason jars don’t work very well since they’re not airtight.

  2. Place a 2-inch layer of rocks at the bottom of the jar to act as a drainage layer. This will ensure that mold doesn’t form in this high moisture environment.

  3. On top of the rocks, place a layer of mesh slightly larger than the base of the jar. This will prevent the soil from falling into the rock layer.

  4. Add soil. This layer should be thicker than the rock layer in order to allow space for the plants to take root. 

  5. Place plants in the positions you like, you can also include wood. Moss is perfect and will flourish, which is especially convenient in the event that your other plants don’t do as well.

  6. Add invertebrates to populate your ecosphere! Woodlice (pill bugs/ rolly pollies) are great, because they are detritivores, meaning they eat decaying matter. You can also include slugs, worms, millipedes, and springtails! Springtails are a great addition because they’re experts at cleaning up waste!

I made my first closed terrarium two days ago, and it already looks to be doing really well. Of course, time will tell whether or not the plants I chose will survive, but I have a good feeling about this! 

There are already a ton of new residents, all of which I collected from my backyard, including two slugs, a worm, and lots of rolly pollies!

Sydney Royal

Rhodes '24

Sydney Royal is a Freshman at Rhodes College. She is from Roswell, Georgia, and intends to major in English with a concentration in creative writing. She is also considering a double major in Environmental Sciences or Biology. She loves animals and dreams of working with them in the future alongside her writing career.
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