Biosphere Lab Report
Biosphere Lab Report
A biosphere can be defined a lot of different ways. Our interpretation of a biosphere is the area in which life can be contained within. In the case of the earth, it means as high as a bird can fly and as deep as fish can swim in the ocean. A biosphere is a closed system that has a constant flow of energy between the organisms living within it and it needs nothing outside of itself but sunlight to continue to be sustained. At the University of Arizona, they attempted to build a self-sustaining biosphere and named it Biosphere 2, (earth being “biosphere 1”). The purpose of building this was to measure survivability and to obtain useful research that could be helpful in furthering ecological understanding. There were two missions in which “Biospherians” were sealed inside to accomplish these goals. However, after the second mission it became a place solely for scientific research, not about human survival.
For our biospheres, we obtained a number of different components, all of which served a specific purpose. We first took a glass container, glass because it does not allow the escape of air like plastic containers can. The soil that lined the bottom of the biosphere was helpful to the survival of our biosphere. It also creates a solid bottom for our other animals to use to their advantage, as well as the survival of our plants. After the soil and lake water was settled, we placed a number of rocks at the bottom of our biosphere. Next we filled our glass containers with lake water. This allowed our shrimp or snails a place to rest, provide calcium carbonate and serve as a nice decoration! After this we placed in our plant, which would use photosynthesis as a means to use up the toxic carbon dioxide given off by our living organisms and provide them with oxygen to breathe and function. After the water cleared and settled we put in a droppers full of macroplankton to provide us with other helpful and necessary microscopic organisms. The
A biosphere can be defined a lot of different ways. Our interpretation of a biosphere is the area in which life can be contained within. In the case of the earth, it means as high as a bird can fly and as deep as fish can swim in the ocean. A biosphere is a closed system that has a constant flow of energy between the organisms living within it and it needs nothing outside of itself but sunlight to continue to be sustained. At the University of Arizona, they attempted to build a self-sustaining biosphere and named it Biosphere 2, (earth being “biosphere 1”). The purpose of building this was to measure survivability and to obtain useful research that could be helpful in furthering ecological understanding. There were two missions in which “Biospherians” were sealed inside to accomplish these goals. However, after the second mission it became a place solely for scientific research, not about human survival.
For our biospheres, we obtained a number of different components, all of which served a specific purpose. We first took a glass container, glass because it does not allow the escape of air like plastic containers can. The soil that lined the bottom of the biosphere was helpful to the survival of our biosphere. It also creates a solid bottom for our other animals to use to their advantage, as well as the survival of our plants. After the soil and lake water was settled, we placed a number of rocks at the bottom of our biosphere. Next we filled our glass containers with lake water. This allowed our shrimp or snails a place to rest, provide calcium carbonate and serve as a nice decoration! After this we placed in our plant, which would use photosynthesis as a means to use up the toxic carbon dioxide given off by our living organisms and provide them with oxygen to breathe and function. After the water cleared and settled we put in a droppers full of macroplankton to provide us with other helpful and necessary microscopic organisms. The