Biosphere-2: failure of the ecosystem under the dome

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

This story began in the early 90s, when a group of Dorovoltsy scientists decided to create a closed and autonomous biosystem under hermetically sealed domes and live in it for 2 years. The glass modules included almost everything needed for life: jungle, savannah, swamp and even a small ocean with a beach and coral reef.

More than 3000 plant species were planted. Also inside were launched about 4 thousand diverse representatives of the fauna, including goats, pigs and chickens on the farm. Scientists were sure that they had all the necessary knowledge to model closed ecosystems, but it turned out that it was not so simple …

Biosphere-2 was such a planet in miniature, untouched by the technical revolution, where 8 intelligent, enlightened people planned to do simple physical labor, gather at the same dinner table, play music during leisure hours and, finally, work for a great goal, for the benefit of science. Artificial lungs were invented for air exchange.

Only electricity was supplied from outside. But they did not take into account a number of significant circumstances and did not consider it necessary to cooperate with scientists, ecologists, chemists, physicists, but approached the process as fun or a show.

How it all began

A big enthusiast for creating a model of a closed biosphere was the Texas billionaire Ed Bass. He also acted as the main sponsor. The development of structures and systems took about 10 years, during which time special groups of scientists collected various species of animals and plants throughout the Earth to populate the Biosphere - 2, selected soil samples, carefully ensuring that everything was biologically balanced there.

The experiment itself began on September 26, 1991.

At first, everything was exactly as they dreamed. The colonists enthusiastically worked in the fields of the farm, checked the work of all systems, followed the turbulent life of the jungle, fished, sat on their little beach, and in the evenings ate a deliciously cooked dinner of the freshest products on the balcony overlooking the ripening harvest. Behind the green beds and the glass wall of the farm, there was a desert and a ridge behind which the sun was setting. The colonists called this balcony "Visionary Cafe" - hence the future seemed especially bright. After dinner, there were philosophical discussions or impromptu jam sessions. Many took musical instruments with them, and although there were no professional musicians among them, what came out, in the wake of general enthusiasm, seemed to be the avant-garde music of the future.

About a week later, Biosphere's chief technician, Van Tillo, came to breakfast very excited. He announced that he had strange and unpleasant news. Daily measurements of the air condition showed that the designers of the dome made a mistake in their calculations. The amount of oxygen in the atmosphere gradually decreases and the percentage of carbon dioxide increases. While this is completely imperceptible, however, if the trend continues, after about a year, existence at the station will become impossible. From that day on, the paradise life of the bionauts ended, an intense struggle for the air they breathed began.

First, it was decided to build up green biomass as intensively as possible. The colonists devoted all their free time to planting and caring for plants. Second, they launched a backup carbon dioxide absorber at full capacity, from which it was constantly necessary to scrape off the sediment. Third, the ocean became an unexpected helper, where some CO2 was deposited, turning into acetic acid. True, the acidity of the ocean was constantly growing from this, and additives had to be used to lower it. Nothing worked. The air under the dome became thinner and thinner.

Soon, another global problem arose before the bionauts. It turned out that a farm of 20 acres, with all modern land cultivation technologies, is capable of providing only 80% of the colonists' needs for food. Their daily diet (the same for women and men) was 1700 calories, which is normal for a sedentary office life, but too little given the amount of physical work that every inhabitant of the "Biosphere" had to do.

One evening, Jane Poynter, in charge of the farm, confessed that she was aware of a future food crisis. A few months before check-in, she calculated that the bionauts would not have enough food, but under the influence of Dr. Walford with his ideas about a healthy diet, it was decided that this shortage would only be beneficial. The doctor, by the way, was the only one who did not complain of hunger. He continued to insist on the validity of his theory: after six months of the "starvation" diet, the blood condition of the bionauts improved significantly, the cholesterol level dropped, and the metabolism improved. People lost 10 to 18 percent of their body weight and looked remarkably young. They smiled at journalists and curious tourists from behind the glass, pretending that nothing was happening. However, the bionauts felt worse and worse.

The summer of 1992 became especially difficult for the colonists. The rice crops were destroyed by pests, so that their diet for several months consisted almost entirely of beans, sweet potatoes and carrots. Due to the excess of beta-carotene, their skin turned orange.

To this misfortune was added a particularly strong El Niño, due to which the sky over "Biosphere-2" was covered with clouds for almost the whole winter. This weakened the photosynthesis of the jungle (and hence the production of precious oxygen), and also reduced the already meager harvests.

The world around them lost its beauty and harmony. In the "desert", it rained regularly due to condensation on the ceiling, so that many of the plants rotted. Huge five-meter trees in the jungle suddenly became fragile, some fell, breaking everything around. (Subsequently, investigating this phenomenon, scientists came to the conclusion that its cause lay in the absence of wind under the dome, which strengthens tree trunks in nature.) Runoff in fish ponds clogged, and the fish became less and less. It became increasingly difficult to combat the acidity of the ocean, which caused the death of corals. The fauna of the jungle and savannah was also inexorably shrinking. Only cockroaches and ants, which filled all biological niches, felt great. The biosphere was gradually dying.

On September 26, 1993, the experiment had to be terminated when the oxygen level inside the complex reached 15%, at a rate of 21%. People went out into the air. They were weakened and embittered. The biosphere turned out to be uninhabitable.

In 2011, the complex was purchased by the University of Arizona for further research. Now there are offsite schools, more than 10,000 schoolchildren visit the Biosphere every year.

So what was this mysterious oxygen problem?

When scientists carefully examined the deplorable state of the destroyed domes, they came to the conclusion that cement ceilings played a fatal role. Oxygen reacted with cement and deposited in the form of oxides on the walls. Bacteria in the soil turned out to be another active consumer of oxygen. For "Biosphere" they chose the most fertile chernozem, so that natural microelements in it would be enough for many years, but in such a land there were a lot of microorganisms that breathe oxygen in the same way as vertebrates. Scientific journals recognized these discoveries as the main and only achievements of the "Biosphere".

On one of the inner walls of the "planet", there are still several lines written by one of the women:

“Only here we felt how dependent on the surrounding nature. If there are no trees, we will have nothing to breathe, if the water is polluted, we will have nothing to drink."

From biosphere to ecovillage

But this story has a continuation … Several participants in the experiment decided not to stop their search for an ideal world and, having made the necessary conclusions, went to create an ecovillage on an abandoned desert site in Portugal. Now this ecovillage is considered one of the most technologically advanced and successful in the world and has become a place of pilgrimage for many researchers and activists. The average annual income of an ecovillage is about 1 million euros and 60% of this income comes from educational seminars and trainings. And its name is Tamera.

Reference:

Tamera is an ecovillage located 200 km south of Lisbon on an area of 136 hectares. It was founded in 1995. The population is about 200 people. People of different ages, religions and nationalities live in Tamera as a community. The land is the property of the entire settlement.

Independent energy sources are used here, mainly solar. In the settlement, ecological tourism is practiced, seminars are held on permaculture (a system of natural farming, which consists in mixed planting of crops).

All residents are divided into groups. One of them deals with guests, the second - various forms of education, the third - settlement services, financing and planning. There is a group carrying out peaceful projects in hot spots. A separate group deals with alternative energy sources. The environmental group is conducting a permaculture project - introducing permaculture under the guidance of the well-known Austrian practitioner Sepp Holzer. A small herd of horses lives in Tamera, which live in conditions as close as possible to nature. There is a special attitude towards children who have their own zone. The entire ecovillage is engaged in raising children.