I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 627 - 525: A New Approach

The failure of the ecological experiment indeed left a group of researchers and Chen Xin feeling frustrated, but after only a dozen failed experiments, it's not enough to make people lose their resolve.

Moreover, they only encountered problems when adding animals, which always led to the collapse of the ecosystem. When it's just plants, the ecosystem could remain stable for at least over five hundred years.

This also proves that constructing an artificial ecosystem is feasible. However, unlike the relatively stable and controllable situation with plants, animals tend to cause changes, leading to ecological imbalance and eventual collapse.

Chen Xin and his team initially thought of adding animals to the stable plant-based ecosystem, but previous experiments proved this approach was not feasible.

The initial experimental failures largely stemmed from mismatches between plants and animals, preventing their coexistence.

In subsequent experiments, they tried integrating animals and plants simultaneously, but the differing reproduction rates among various species still easily led to ecosystem collapse.

This is why after the seventeenth experimental failure, someone suggested changing their approach.

Because they had tried all the solutions under their initial approach, proving they needed to think outside their original framework.

So, after concluding the seventeenth experiment, Chen Xin gave everyone a day off, allowing them to rest and refresh their minds in hopes of generating new ideas and strategies.

He also began to adjust his thinking, contemplating the root of the problem.

An ecosystem typically consists of non-biotic environment, producers, consumers, and decomposers. To sustain an ecosystem, these four components are indispensable.

In Chen Xin's current experiments, the non-biotic environment is easiest to ensure and is the most stable part of the four components.

As for producers, usually referring to green plants, this part isn't as stable as the non-biotic environment but doesn't require much worry; they've already constructed a stable plant-based ecosystem.

However, the consumer part of the ecosystem truly challenged Chen Xin and the researchers.

Although by definition, animals below are considered consumers of the ecosystem, in reality, every link in the food chain can be seen as both producers and consumers.

They consume the lower class and are consumed by the upper class of the food chain. Ultimately, the top of the food chain, upon dying, is decomposed by decomposers, forming a closed loop of material recycling and energy flow.

This means that the supply-demand relationship between each species is key to maintaining the balance of the ecosystem.

It's like a production line; raw materials are input at the source, processed into parts in the workshop, then assembled in the assembly workshop. Every step is pre-calculated, no more or less.

If any step is excessive or lacking, it will cause issues in the entire production line.

Excess results in piles accumulating at a certain point, deficiency results in fewer final products from the production line.

The production line in factories can be directly adjusted, but ecological environments are obviously not so easy to control and adjust.

Humans can indeed play a role in regulating the ecological environment within Dome City, allowing it to persist longer. However, if the ecosystem itself is problematic, even external intervention only prolongs its operation time, ultimately leading to collapse.

Moreover, if issues arise in certain aspects, even external intervention struggles to save the entire ecosystem.

This was evident during the sixteenth and seventeenth experiments, where the massive proliferation of insects caused a fearful locust plague-like scene. Despite human intervention, the ultimate result required rebuilding the entire ecosystem.

Of course, such results were due to the lack of external intervention, leading to complete ecological imbalance.

If a monitoring system could constantly supervise the entire ecological environment, identifying and addressing issues promptly, it could, to some extent, indeed maintain the operation of the entire ecosystem.

As long as problems causing a sudden collapse of the ecosystem don't occur, this method could ensure smooth operation for a long time.

While Dome City can implement this, restoring the Earth's entire ecology would be impossible in this way.

Ultimately, humanity currently lacks the powerful ability to monitor the Earth's entire ecology and promptly adjust potential issues.

Thus, Chen Xin must find a way for the ecosystem to operate smoothly without external intervention.

But how easy is that?

Abandoning pondering this problem, Chen Xin decided to give his mind a rest, hoping for new inspiration by refreshing his perspective.

So he left the Research Center and returned home.

Coming back home, Chen Xin noticed Qin Lan sitting on the sofa organizing something, prompting his curiosity to walk over and ask, "What are you looking at?"

"Some photos, among the items Mo Qingyan brought back earlier, there were quite a few old photos, so I'm organizing them." Qin Lan answered Chen Xin's question, also looking up at him, "Why did you come back so early today?"

"Encountered some hurdles at work, the experiment failed again, so I simply gave everyone a day off to rest and refresh their minds." Saying this, Chen Xin sat next to Qin Lan, casually picking up the photo album she had organized.

Most of the photos were from their past fun times in Mo Qingyan's bar, along with some taken during outdoor activities together.

As Chen Xin flipped through these photos, recalling those joyful memories, he couldn't help but feel more relaxed.

But as Chen Xin was browsing these photos, he suddenly noticed one photo that differed from the rest.

The photo featured Qin Lan, but instead of the combat attire she often wore in Chen Xin's memory, she wore a rare simple white long dress, appearing very quiet sitting at a table, in front of a fish tank-like setup filled with pebbles, small fish, and water plants inside a glass sphere.

Naturally, the glass sphere caught Chen Xin's attention, prompting him to ask Qin Lan, "Ah Lan, when was this photo taken? And what is this sphere? Without any openings, wouldn't the fish suffocate from lack of oxygen?"