Exhibition methodology on visualizing ecological processes in a river with references to habitat

Abstract

River environments consist of many things that are difficult to discern visually because they are hidden underwater. And as ecological processes are complicated andfluctuate and habitats go from a micro to wide-scale ones, it is difficult to observe many of the ecological processes and phenomena on-site. In interpreting the above processes, it is necessary to have an exhibition theory based on an ecological point of view of a river. In this study, we considered a theory on how to understand and visualize ecological processes in a river, with references to ecological exhibitions in aquariums and related facilities. First, we found the viewpoints of the exhibitions by looking at the relation between habitat classification that references past related ecological research and the restricted mattersor trends regarding human perspectives. In addition, in order to create a good ecological exhibition, a typical aqua-scape including the target habitats was selected, and cross-sectional views were extracted from the viewpoint of passing through the relevant space. This showed it is important to reproduce aquatic organisms and vegetation in ecotones, placement of a micro-topography and light that is suitable for the target natural environment. With regards to human perspectives, in order to observe the relationship between livingorganisms and the surrounding environment, we clarified the importance of securing good vantage points and multiple angles of elevation for observing phenomena. Lastly, we considered information media such as illustrations and movies which complement and expand the exhibits and discussed events that are difficult to see with the naked eye. In this way, we showed the effectiveness and applicability of the information media in terms of being able to visualize information by expanding or reducing time.