Prosthetic Habitat of Renewal is a project about the future of Eared Grebes at The Great Salt Lake viewed through the lens of Commons.

This project was researched through the lens of commons which I defined as: Necessary resources for the (re)production and continuation of an ecosystem. The ecosystem at hand here is The Great Salt Lake. Small changes in this environment have big impacts, the change being looked at here is the increase in salinity levels and how that will impact the bird known as the Eared Grebe. This bird relies on the lake months at a time for survival.

The Eared Grebe is a unique and fascinating bird. 90% of the worlds population comes to The Great Salt Lake each fall to feed on Brine Shrimp. That means that between 3 - 5 million of them arrive at The Great Salt Lake each year for what is known as Fall Staging. During this period they undergo very intense physical changes. The pectoral muscle in their wings shrink making them flightless and their stomach increases by 92% allowing them to take in around 30,000 Brine Shrimp per day. This process begins in September and by mid January they are ready for their migration to Mexico which will be completed in one night.

This Process relies on their big mass amounts of Brine Shrimp available to the birds each years. However with decreasing water levels the salinity in the lake is at an all time high and only getting higher. Without Brine Shrimp their will be no food source for the Eared Grebes making their Fall Staging impossible.

This graph shows the physical changes that occur over the 4 month span that the Eared Grebes are flightless and feeding on the Brine Shrimp daily.

To allow for the continuation of the Eared Grebe fall staging process I have designed a Prosthetic Habitat for Brine shrimp to allow them to survive in a lake with a high salinity level.

The Microbialites structure that the Prosthetic Habitat would be built around is a rock like structure that is made from layers of sediment and microbes over time. The top layer, the Microbial Mat, is the food source for all organisms living in The Great Salt Lake. When this Mat becomes exposed to sun it dies. By building the Prosthetic Habitat around these structures they will be covered with water allowing them to survive and be used as a food source by the Brine Shrimp within the enclosure.