{"id":32944,"date":"2020-10-29T00:05:14","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T07:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/?post_type=custom_news&p=32944"},"modified":"2020-10-28T14:28:19","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T21:28:19","slug":"designing-a-house-fit-for-a-fish","status":"publish","type":"custom_news","link":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/news\/designing-a-house-fit-for-a-fish\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing a House Fit for a Fish"},"content":{"rendered":"

As climate change and human depredations destroy ecosystems across the globe, scientists are stepping in to offer beleaguered animals temporary housing. For an octopus in the Mediterranean Sea, that artificial refuge comes as a sunken plastic pipe<\/a>, while in the Hy\u00e8res archipelago off France, nesting seabirds can cozy up in semiburied plastic jug<\/a>s. But some scientists are going further and designing housing from scratch.<\/p>\n

At the University of Delaware, for example, ecologist Danielle Dixson has shown that 3D-printed replicas of natural coral, crafted from a biodegradable cornstarch substrate, can provide temporary scaffolding for a recovering coral reef<\/a>. Dixson and her colleagues analyzed the necessary structure for reef fish housing\u2014a coral with too many branches prevents fish from fitting inside, but wide gaps allow predators to sneak in and wreak havoc\u2014and concluded that nature had already gotten it right.<\/p>\n

Other researchers are stretching their imaginations even more. If these replacement homes are artificial anyway, then why simply replicate an existing habitat? Are the dwellings animals find in nature really<\/em> what they want? If, given the chance, a fish could design and build its own home, what would it look like? And if scientists could somehow figure out a fish\u2019s ideal habitation, could they make that instead?<\/p>\n

Alex Jordan, an evolutionary biologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany, is searching for the answers to those questions. Jordan and his colleagues are embarking on research about the housing preferences of damselfish\u2014species that are crucial to the healthy functioning of coral reefs\u2014by presenting them with a panoply of options and tracking their behavior to figure out which features they value most.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat structural elements do animals want and what do they need? Can we give them those things?\u201d Jordan says. \u201cWe\u2019re asking fish to become architects of their own spaces so we can understand what they want in their own world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan\u2019s efforts have already shown that some marine animals prefer artificial structures over natural ones<\/a>. After 3D printing a variety of shells and observing which ones cichlids gravitate toward, the scientists discovered that the fish opt for huge shells\u2014ones that would never occur in nature. The finding shouldn\u2019t be that shocking. After all, few among us would choose a cave over a castle.<\/p>\n

Jordan\u2019s research represents a confluence of art and science, and some of his team\u2019s test structures\u2014including a ceramic brick that looks like a Rice Krispies Treat; a metal sponge that\u2019s been injected with gas that forms gaping holes, creating a trypophobe\u2019s nightmare; a Barbie-pink block engineered for maximum surface area; and a simple three-dimensional hexagon\u2014were designed at the studio of Rasmus Nielsen, a Danish artist and member of Superflex, a group that engages with environmental, social, and political issues through art. Jordan calls the designs \u201cfish Legos,\u201d while Nielsen calls them \u201cIkea for fish.\u201d<\/p>\n

COVID-19 has thrown a wrench into Jordan\u2019s timeline, but once the pandemic subsides, he intends to replicate the cichlid laboratory research in the wild. He\u2019ll also test out those fish Lego bricks by installing them on reefs in the Red Sea and taking note of which structures damselfish prefer, allowing them to become their own Frank Gehrys or Frank Lloyd Wrights.<\/p>\n

Jordan believes that his team will be able to create a structure that fish prefer over natural coral. \u201cBut I have no real notion yet about what the change will be,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Aside from trying to understand damselfish design sensibilities, Jordan and Nielsen are hoping to make a statement about animal consciousness by demonstrating that fish hold preferences about their habitat.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another application to this research, both existential and practical, Nielsen says: \u201cThe far goal would be to translate this in my lifetime to human architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n

With sea level rise, many of the buildings we\u2019re constructing along our coasts will be submerged within a century or so. Perhaps architects might design new coastal dwellings that take human desires into account, but also look to the future\u2014creating constructions meant to be given over to the sea and incorporating elements for the creatures that will inherit them. Making a castle fit for a human, but also for a damselfish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As climate change and human depredations destroy ecosystems across the globe, scientists are stepping in to offer beleaguered animals temporary housing. For an octopus in the Mediterranean Sea, that artificial refuge comes as a sunken plastic pipe, while in the <\/p>\n

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