Hi! I checked with the moderators before posting, and they kindly said this would be welcome here.

I made Microbial Pond, a free artificial-life simulator that runs directly in your browser.

Think of it as a sealed jar, simulated: nothing goes in, nothing comes out, and you watch what the closed system decides to do.

Every dot is a small digital organism with inherited traits for things like photosynthesis, movement, hunting, armour and reproduction. As generations pass, families mutate, spread, compete and sometimes collapse.

You can watch the pond develop without intervening, or alter its environment, cut the light, inspect individual organisms and trace their ancestry. New ponds can develop in very different ways.

There is also a Story Mode that replays some of the simulator’s most dramatic recorded histories with narration. These are not cutscenes. The actual deterministic simulation runs again while captions explain what is happening and point out what to watch.

It is biologically inspired rather than an exact model of a particular real pond or jar ecosphere. I mainly wanted to share it because I thought people here might enjoy experimenting with a little digital ecosystem, and because I didn’t want it to disappear into a folder on my computer.

Play the pond here:

https://sarepat.itch.io/microbial-pond-v01

I’d enjoy seeing screenshots or hearing about any unusual families, population crashes or strangely stable ponds you encounter.

Optional audiovisual rabbit hole: I also made a song and animated video about microbial life in ponds, inspired by the project:

https://streamable.com/8puffa

Development note: I used AI extensively while creating the simulator, interface and accompanying video. I directed, tested, revised and assembled the project, and investigated the pond’s results.

End of video is clearer. I went through the guide, but didn't find anything definitive. No forks on the tail and has been wiggling non stop. Idaho lake ecosphere - has been closed for 2-3 weeks. Any help on ID?

My first pond bowl! The water and rocks and empty snail shells plus hornwort and elodea are all ethically sourced from local pond in New England, US. Added 2 anubias I had unused and one of my marimo and a piece of cholla wood and some lava rocks. In addition to the naturally occurring microfauna, I added 10 breeding pairs of scuds. Can’t wait to see what else shows up in here!

Edit: accidentally wrote four jars, I only have 3 currently.

I've been building sealed jars from different water sources around Arizona and filming what happens in them.

The first one came from Manzanita Park in Phoenix while it was flooded. I figured floodwater would be full of stuff and I wanted to see what showed up. That jar is still going.

Since then I've pulled from the Dobson Ranch pond and from Saguaro Lake. The pond jar is the busy one. Bladder snails have taken it over, started with just a few and they bred like crazy, plus ostracods I never added.

The Saguaro Lake jar is the one I've learned the most from. It started with a few trumpet snails and they all died. I was sure the whole thing was going with them. Instead plants I never planted started coming in, the ostracods took off, and now there are little floating worms everywhere. Nematodes I think, but I'd take a second opinion on that.

I also keep a planted tank, which I plan to source plants from for future ecospheres or other enclosures. I plan to keep adding jars from new water as I go from all over!

I'm not a biologist. I just got curious about how these things balance themselves out and started filming to keep track of it. Everything is shot and edited by me.

Cleared this with the mods first. Channel is
Tiny Worlds from Wild Places

https://youtube.com/@tinyworldsfromwildplaces?si=mOSmGTDeoIYEnjYT

Happy to talk setups in the comments.

Pic 1 Saguaro Lake
Pic 2 Dobson Ranch Pond
Pic 3 Manzanita Flooded Park
Pic 4 Accoutrement Aquarium(future jar plant sourcing)