Driving Question
What combination of plants, animals, and inorganic resources is required to successfully create an enclosed, sustainable, artificial biosphere?
Project Challenge
We are now in what some would call the Anthropocene Epoch also known as The Age of Man. In the span of one lifetime, human activity has improved the lives of the vast majority of people. But humans have also caused dramatic changes in the air, water, and land of our planet. Buildings have become our new landscapes. The critically important nitrogen and carbon cycles have been altered. Deforestation has caused massive extinctions and carbon dioxide emissions have been warming global temperatures and acidifying our oceans. Not all species will survive the inevitable changes. As a result, it has become imperative to find a safe operating space for the sake of humanity.
SafeHaven, an engineering company, is hoping to create this space. They want to build enclosed, artificial biospheres that mimic the present-day, natural ecosystems around the globe. These will become humanity’s new homes in the face of the future changes Earth is bound to experience. They are even researching the possibility of building these biospheres deep under the ocean and on other planets. With the biospheres still only in the research phase, SafeHaven is in need of qualified individuals to build and investigate small-scale, enclosed ecosystems. The research from these models will guide the building livable biospheres.
You will need to research and create your own small-scale, enclosed, and sustainable artificial biosphere model for SafeHaven based on a biome of your choice using a two-liter bottle. You must complete a detailed log of your investigation that includes the terrarium’s biome, the specific abiotic and biotic factors added and their amounts, measures for your terrarium’s success, rationale for how you built your terrarium and for any modifications you make to it, pictures and daily observations. You will present your final recommendations for SafeHaven in a poster presentation to your peers.
SafeHaven, an engineering company, is hoping to create this space. They want to build enclosed, artificial biospheres that mimic the present-day, natural ecosystems around the globe. These will become humanity’s new homes in the face of the future changes Earth is bound to experience. They are even researching the possibility of building these biospheres deep under the ocean and on other planets. With the biospheres still only in the research phase, SafeHaven is in need of qualified individuals to build and investigate small-scale, enclosed ecosystems. The research from these models will guide the building livable biospheres.
You will need to research and create your own small-scale, enclosed, and sustainable artificial biosphere model for SafeHaven based on a biome of your choice using a two-liter bottle. You must complete a detailed log of your investigation that includes the terrarium’s biome, the specific abiotic and biotic factors added and their amounts, measures for your terrarium’s success, rationale for how you built your terrarium and for any modifications you make to it, pictures and daily observations. You will present your final recommendations for SafeHaven in a poster presentation to your peers.