Learning From Failure: Biosphere Ii Essay

Biosphere II was a project done in Arizona received recognition on 26th September 1991. octette mass four men and four women were apply in the taste. Biosphere 2 was an air tight structure with its base made of steel go and surrounded by an above ground structure that was made of drinking glass and steel. Inside the biosphere was all that could be found in the real world. in that respect was a desert, a marsh, a rain forest, a savannah, an agricultural land, an nautical and human Habitat. This was in an effort of creating something close to the earths ecosystem. These spate were to live on air, water and food produced by plants (Allen & Blake, 2007).The goals of the experiment were to make the possibility of building an artificial biosphere and the potential of much(prenominal) biosphere surviving. Also encase the biosphere didnt thrive then the causes would have been established. However, Biosphere II proved to be a great failure which had consumed a caboodle of resourc es in its establishment. discomfit started soon as the crew got into biosphere II. First, they experienced a shortage in oxygen tag on hindering them from functioning well. The oxygen decreased to deplorable levels such that more of it had to be injected into the system.When the crew were forced to pump in more oxygen into the system in order to sustain them, this indicated that biosphere II was non self reliant. At first they did not figure come on what the problem was scarcely they later detect that was caused by one C dioxide which had hoard in the system. The coulomb dioxide accumulated at a very game calculate especially in the savanna and rain forest regions. This was associated with the movement of high organic matter which the microbes metabolized and in the process consumed a lot of oxygen resulting to high levels of carbon dioxide.It was also expected that the trees would play a very crucial employment in regulating amount of carbon dioxide in the air and wou ld have been able to supply the crew with fit oxygen through the process of photosynthesis. However, the plants did not seem to accomplish this role instead the level of oxygen kept on decreasing eon carbon dioxide kept on increasing a phenomenon that was later discovered to have been caused by concrete that was used to build the biosphere II.Instead of carbon dioxide being used up by plants it reacted with calcium hydroxide a major component of concrete which resulted to formation of water and calcium change. This was support by the scientists after testing the walls and realizing that the inner surface of the walls had calcium carbonate levels which were ten times the level of the outer walls (Alling, Nelson &Silverstone, 1993). While making their selection, the scientists had chosen different species of animals, insects and plants that they thought would survive best in the biosphere II.However, by the culmination of the project only a few species had managed to survive. Th e rate of extinction was higher(prenominal) than predicted and most insect species got extinct which had a negative impact on the plants since they were no longer pollinated and thus were unable to propagate themselves. Statistics show that of the 25 species of small vertebrates present in Biosphere II only 6 survived by the end of the mission. However some species were favored by the environment in biosphere II. While former(a)s got extinct ants, cockroaches and katydids flourished together with some plant species such as the morning glory.The morning glory grew vigorously that it almost choked the other plants. The crew had no alternative but invested most of their time working(a) to get food. They experienced a shortage in food supply and faced hunger most of the time. out front the two year flow ended the crew had catchn 85 percentage of the food they consumed and got the remaining15 percent food from their emergency supplies. Since they relied on sunlight which came throug h the glass to grow food, the winters of 1991 and 1992 affected the amount of food they could grow (Marino, Odum &Thomas, 1999).This proved that the project was incapable of sustaining an ecosystem that was balanced. They also faced various challenges some of which included shortage in sluttish water. This was as a result of pollution experienced in the water system. Many nutrients accumulated in the water systems therefore polluting it. They had to clean their water using algae mats. Other atmospheric imbalances followed suit where by levels of dinitrogen oxide in the air increased in an alarming rate such that the crew risked brain damage because vitamin B12was synthesized at an extremely slow rate (Allen & Blake, 2007).The experiments shortcomings were also seen when the crew quarreled. The members were supposed to work together as a group in order to bring out the best results but this never happened. Instead they split into groups comprising four members distributively and g ot to the point of not talking to each other except when it was necessary to run the biosphere. The lessons that burn down be come upont from this failed experiment come from the mistakes committed by the scientists. First we learn the importance of taking time to plan whatever we intend to do.Before attempting any thing one should take all measures required for correct functioning of the project. Also another critical factor to consider is the reliableness of the materials and equipment to be used in the project (Alling, Nelson &Silverstone, 1993). If proper materials had been used in construction of the biosphere II then the problem of insufficient oxygen could not have occurred. The importance of using qualified personnel also arises. They used an architect who was incompetent this resulted to designing biosphere II with many faults.However what give the bounce be learnt from this experiment in general is the importance of relating well with each other. For any thing to succe ed then there should be cooperation among people concerned this translates to excellent working conditions which leads to better outcome.References Allen J. & Blake A. (2007) Biosphere 2 the human experiment . New York Viking publishers. Alling A. , Nelson M. & Silverstone S. (1993) Life under Glass The Inside Story of Biosphere 2. seer Biosphere Press. Marino B. D. , Odum H. & Thomas M. (1999) Biosphere 2 Research Past and Present Amsterdam Elsevier publishers.