A year ago I made this huge natural native saltwater ecosphere in a jar. It has had a lot of ups and downs, but to this day is still very successful. The ecosphere has housed crabs, starfish and a lot more and is currently still housing a lot of crustaceans, paramecium, worms, other invertebrates and even spionid worms.

Netherlands-based YouTuber Life in Jars recounts one year’s worth of tiny activities found within his seacosphere, an airtight closed ecosystem filled with saltwater and sea life.

What animals did he discover? What caused the ecosphere to stay steady or change drastically? And what is an ecosphere? How does life survive within them?

This Life in Jars video explains how ecospheres work. The key component: Energy in the form of indirect sunlight.

He also shares how to create your own seacosphere, step-by-step, with an airtight glass jar, some dirt and/or rocks, water (he recommends fresh vs sea for beginners), algae and/or plants.

Spend more time with tiny water-dwelling creatures in this wonderful series of pondlife videos and in Searching for Life in Iceland’s Frigid Fissures.

Plus: Whale Fall (After Life of a Whale), Soil Life in Action: Bioturbation with and without soil fauna, Fabulous Food Chains and The Dirt on Decomposers, and why is biodiversity so important?

Bonus: The mysterious origins of life on Earth.

h/t Kottke.