Excerpt
Biosphere 2, located in Oracle, Arizona, is an impressive structure designed as a closed system for several ecosystems, including a rainforest, desert, savanna, marsh, ocean, and a separate agriculture area designated as the Intensive Agriculture Biome (IAB) (Figure 1). The synthetic communities of plants and soils are enclosed in a glass and metal shell that encompasses 1.28 ha, and is internationally known for its beauty and sophisticated environmental control capacity.
Originally undertaken as a commercial venture, Biosphere 2 was designed as a prototype for a Mars space station with a materially closed ecological system that could maintain equilibrium and sustain life support for human beings over long periods of time. This remarkable facility sealed a volume of approximately 180,000 m3 with a leak rate measured at 6% per year (Nelson et al. 1993). However, Biosphere 2 came under attack by some in the science community for lack of rigor (Kaiser 1996) and for controversial promotional tactics. Following difficulty in growing sufficient food and a secretive attempt to inject O2 to correct an unexpected 02 depletion in the Biosphere 2 atmosphere, the facility became labeled as a “New Age” stunt (Wolfgang 1995; Rabinovitz 1995). Biosphere 2 …
Footnotes
Allen Torbert is a soil scientist with the USDA-ARS (U.S. Department of Agriculture—Agricultural Research Service) with the Natural Resources Systems Research Unit at the Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory, Temple, Texas. Hyrum Johnson is an ecologist with the USDA-ARS (US. Department of Agriculture—Agricultural Research Service)with the Grassland Protection Research Unit at the Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory, Temple Texas.
- Copyright 2001 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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