All living organisms decompose after death.
Decomposition is carried out by decomposers, organisms that break down the remains of dead organisms.
Examples of decomposer organisms include insects such as beetles, flies, and maggots and their larvae;
woodlice, fungi, slime molds, bacteria, slugs, snails, millipedes, springtails and earthworms.
Decomposers are sanitation workers that feed on organic matter by breaking down dead tissue. As organic matter is decomposed, water, carbon dioxide, and nutrients are released. This process converts dead plants and animals into simple components that serve as essential nutrients for plants. Without this process, nutrients consumed by plants and animals would remain locked in their tissue and have no way of returning to the soil after they die. For this reason, decomposition is fundamental to the support and continuation of life on Earth.
Completely the process of dismantling an organism may take months or years.
Multiple species of decomposers work in tandem to break a deceased organism down to its elemental units of matter.
This exhibition highlights decomposition and decay as key aspects of the cyclical processes that maintain life on Earth. The goal is to instill an appreciation of their importance in the hope that such appreciation may diminish the role of personal sensibilities and cultural biases that resist, instead of embrace, Earth’s life-sustaining processes.