GMU:Life in an aquatic ecosystem

Mindaugas Gapševičius & Alessandro Volpato Mondays, 15.30-18.30

Last semester, we built a rainwater pond in the campus garden. The motivation in maintaining the pond has shown us that we need to keep maintaining it. The upcoming semester we want to concentrate on the pond itself: Who lives there, what does its ecosystem look like, and what are the effects of human intervention in its ecosystem?

During the course we will try to understand how different species interact in the aquatic ecosystem. We will explore two different ecosystems: the naturally occurring environment of a rainwater pond and the self-made aquatic environment in a laboratory setting.

We have outlined several experiments that we will begin with: 1) we will take samples of water from different locations in the pond to see how the composition of the ecosystem differs; 2) we will introduce tardigrades into the pond to see if they adapt to it; 3) we will set up an ecosystem in a lab setting with different photosynthetic organisms and analyze their behavior by adding different nutrients or providing different amounts of light.

The experiments offered are designed to give students an idea of how the methods used in the natural sciences can be used in arts and how their use can lead to a different quality in an artwork. The experiments will shed light on how, for example, lawn fertilizer or the change in ph of water affects the ecosystem. The result of the course is an artistic project documented in the wiki.

Please send your motivation (3-4 sentences) to mindaugas.gapsevicius@uni-weimar.de. Preference will be given to students who want to explore art-science methods and aquatic ecosystems.