On planet Earth, thousands of different living organisms interact to form an ecosystem where each organism receives its energy from the products of other life forms. Each organism creates something that another organism needs to survive so that the biochemical pathways between organisms is balanced. Without this balance, the entire "chain" could collapse if one link was broken. In 1991, an experiment was created to test and observe the links between organisms and how they interact called Biosphere 2. Soon, I will explain the background/overview of the Biosphere 2 experiment, photosynthesis and cellular respiration, and why Biosphere 2 failed. To begin with, Biosphere 2 was a scientific experiment created to test and observe the …show more content…
In photosynthesis, a plant cell(only plants can use photosynthesis) absorbs light from the sun and uses that light energy in the Electron Transport Chain(ETC) to create molecules of ATP and NADPH(and Oxygen which will leave the cell). These molecules will then be used in a process called the Calvin cycle which will then produce organic compounds. Next, is cellular respiration which uses these organic compounds and Oxygen will be used in a process called glycolysis which creates two ATP. Then, a process called the Krebs cycle uses a molecule called acetyl CoA to produce 4 Co2, 2 ATP, 6 NADH, and 2 FADH2. These products will then be transported to the ETC which will then produce more ATP which will be used as energy and will produce H2O. Overall, the most important thing to know is that the products of photosynthesis, organic compounds and O2, are reactants in cellular respiration which produces the reactants of photosynthesis, Co2 and H2O. Both processes rely on the other, without one, the other will not work which is why Biosphere 2 failed which I will explain …show more content…
During the experiment, their goal was to keep the biosphere in balance which was a difficult task. At almost 18 months in, oxygen was pumped in because the testers inside were running low. They found that they lost approximately 7 tons of oxygen during the experiment. This oxygen loss occurred when carbon in the soil (in the form of compost) broke down and used up O2 and released Co2 into the air which went into the concrete. Without this Co2 available for plants to create O2 with, Oxygen levels decreased from about 21% to 14.2%. Another issue was that balance between organisms was unequal. 25 small vertebrates were used in the project but only 6 survived. This caused a big issue because some of the species were used to pollinate plants, and without this pollination the plants could no longer reproduce naturally. Not only did some species die but some thrived by causing damage to other organisms which cause problems when maintaining food crops because without close inspection, a plant could easily be killed. Although other problems did occur, these were the main reasons why the project failed (esp. the first issue). Although the project was considered a failure, the failure helped the scientists working on the experiment find new
Many variations and species of plants can be found all around the world and in different habitats. These variations and characteristics are due to their adaptations to the natural habitat surrounding them. In three of many climatic zones, the arid, tropical and temperate zone, plants that vary greatly from each other are found in these locations. In this experiment, we’ll be observing the connection between the adaptations of the plants to their environment at the Fullerton Arboretum. The arboretum is a space containing numerous plants from different environments. The plants are carefully looked after and organized into their specific habitat. Therefore, we’ll be able to take a look at the plants within multiple
The purpose of this lab was to discover how diverse the parking lot at Bunker Hill High School could be, by finding out the Shannon Wiener biodiversity index of the parking lot. The parking lot was used because it does not have much immigration and emigration of the cars. Using an actual ecosystem in the wild would be hard to control, what is immigrating and emigrating out of the experiment. The experiment shows how diverse the cars were, and this can show how diverse an actual ecosystem was during that time of the experiment. This then tells that diversity does matters because if everyone had the same kind of car, then no one would be different. However, if the students, faculty, and guests had a variety of cars in the parking lot, which made the experiment more diverse in the parking lot or the community of cars.
Photosynthesis consists of the following equation: Sun light Carbon dioxide + Water = = == == ==> Glucose + Oxygen Chlorophyll Chlorophyll is a substance found in chloroplasts, found in the cells of leaves.
Conclusion: As we began with just soil, the ecobottle was an example of a secondary succession where there was an ecosystem having to start over with only soil present. Initially we saw our pioneer species of grass begin to sprout up and our aquatic plant thrive. The aquatic plant grew continuously and helped algae begin to grow as succession continued and the chamber could support more and more life. The terrestrial chamber though quickly showed signs of a decrease in growth and then completely collapsed. I believe that this was because of a limiting nutrient which is a nutrient required for the growth of the grass but was available in a lower quantity than other nutrients so the grass began to die once all of that nutrient was used up. This nutrient could have a number of macronutrients that plants need large amount of like water or phosphorous but was likely nitrogen. Nitrogen is very common in the atmosphere, but needs to go through nitrogen fixation to be available to producers so it is often in limited
= = = [IMAGE][IMAGE]6CO2 + 6h20 light energy and chlorophyll C6H1206 + 6O2 Carbon dioxide + water converted into glucose and oxygen. Theory of photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a chemical reaction, which uses the energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water to oxygen.
... but similar areas. They put some in isolation and some went into a mixture of other species. It was discovered that the species in the mixture evolved more diversely than those that were in isolation. They also discovered that the mixture of species changed the way they used resources. This showed that the species that evolved together were more productive than the species in isolation. The final conclusion was that “species interactions can have a major effect on evolutionary dynamics, which can in turn influence ecosystems functioning” (Timothy G Barraclough).
Many other experiments like this were performed, this experiment was also not the only experiment
The data we found supported our original water hypothesis. My group and I believed that adding ammonium nitrate into our eco-column would ultimately damage the ecosystems. The increase in levels of minerals from the aquatic ecosystem also indicates that the entire column was being destroyed. Through this experiment, I have learned that too much nutrients and minerals within an ecosystem can be extremely harmful to the wildlife. Throughout this experiment the water in our eco column began to turn yellow because of a surplus of nitrogen and phosphorous in the eco-column. In some of the eco-columns of the other groups in the classroom, they had eutrophication in the early stages of their eco-column which resulted in the death of many of their
“Photosynthesis (literally, “synthesis from light”) is a metabolic process by which the energy of sunlight is captured and used to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) into carbohydrates (which is represented as a six-carbon sugar, C6H12O6) and oxygen gas (O2)” (BioPortal, n.d., p. 190).
TutorVista.com (2015), states that; “photosynthesis and cellular respiration are metabolic reactions that complete each other in the environment. They are the same reactions but occur in reverse. In photosynthesis, carbon dioxide and water yield glucose and oxygen respiration, process glucose and oxygen yield carbon dioxide and water, catabolic pathway process which requires or contains molecular oxygen for the production of adenosine triphosphate. This three step aerobic respiration cycle occurs in the cytoplasm and in the organelles called mitochondria. Within this process, cells break down oxygen and glucose in its storable form called adenosine triphosphate or ATP. This cellular respiration or sometimes called an exothermic reaction is similar to a combustion type reaction whereby the cell releases energy in the form heat but at a much slower rate within a living cell. According to our text, Campbell Essential Biology with Physiology, (2010, pg. 94), cellular respiration is stated as “The aerobic harvesting of energy from food molecules; the energy-releasing chemical breakdown of food molecules, such as glucose, and the storage of potential energy in a form that cells can use to perform work; involves glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, the electron transport chain, and chemiosmosis”. It is also my understanding that it is possible for cellular respiration to take place without oxygen, which is called anaerobic respiration. In the anaerobic respiration process the glycosis step or sometimes referred to as the metabolic pathway process deferrers because the anaerobic condition produces
There's no doubt that large constructs must have a negative effect on the environment. However, through the experiment I learned that the effects that happen to an environment take place slowly in a way that can't be detected or understood easily. In other words, these changes take a long time to really happen to something effective.
Photosynthesis is a process in which plants and other organisms convert the light energy from the sun or any other source into chemical energy that can be released to fuel an organism’s activities. During this reaction, carbon dioxide and water are converted into glucose and oxygen. This process takes place in leaf cells which contain chloroplasts and the reaction requires light energy from the sun, which is absorbed by a green substance called chlorophyll. The plants absorb the water through their roots from the earth and carbon dioxide through their leaves.
What is meant by evaluation? Evaluation means generating of diversity of life forms on the surface of the Earth. There are several theories but the main one was suggested by Charles Darwin in 1859. He published his book by the name of Origin o...
According to scientists, photosynthesis is “the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. Photosynthesis in plants generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a byproduct.” ("pho•to•syn•the•sis,")
We have learned from this experiment that it is possible to build a biosphere, that integrates humans, and have it function within the tolerable limits of sustainability. Future versions of this experiment may be used in constructing permanent space stations or for long distance space exploration. If we continue mistreating our present biosphere we may end up living in structures similar to Biosphere 2.