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I've never designed an ecosystem before but i'm not sure 1-2m square would be big enough to self-sustain a frog?Can you make it any bigger?
During the first mission, the oxygen inside the facility, which began at 20.9%, fell at a steady pace and after 16 months was down to 14.5%. This is equivalent to the oxygen availability at an elevation of 4,080 meters (13,400 ft).[14] Since some biospherians were starting to have symptoms like sleep apnea and fatigue, Walford and the medical team decided to boost oxygen with injections in January and August 1993.Many suspected the drop in oxygen was due to microbes in the soil. The soils were selected to have enough carbon to provide for the plants of the ecosystems to grow from infancy to maturity, a plant mass increase of perhaps 20 tons [16] The release rate of that soil carbon as carbon dioxide by respiration of soil microbes was an unknown that the Biosphere 2 experiment was designed to reveal.
This has been tried with humans living in a sealed greenhouse, (it failed: correct atmosphere could not be maintained) ... QuoteDuring the first mission, the oxygen inside the facility, which began at 20.9%, fell at a steady pace and after 16 months was down to 14.5%. This is equivalent to the oxygen availability at an elevation of 4,080 meters (13,400 ft).[14] Since some biospherians were starting to have symptoms like sleep apnea and fatigue, Walford and the medical team decided to boost oxygen with injections in January and August 1993.Many suspected the drop in oxygen was due to microbes in the soil. The soils were selected to have enough carbon to provide for the plants of the ecosystems to grow from infancy to maturity, a plant mass increase of perhaps 20 tons [16] The release rate of that soil carbon as carbon dioxide by respiration of soil microbes was an unknown that the Biosphere 2 experiment was designed to reveal. newbielink:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere2 [nonactive] newbielink:http://www.biospheres.com/experimentchrono1.html [nonactive]
Building a micro-ecosystemObjectiveInvestigate the difficulties in building a stable ecosystem containing higher organisms, such as tomatoes and other green plants, in a relatively small space.Some important conceptsAn Ecosystem: An ecosystem is a community of living organisms interacting with each other and their non-living environment.community + habitat = ecosystemFor this investigation we will provide a suitably prepared habitat within a sealed glass jar, into which we will place a small community of plants.Dynamic EquilibriumThe micro-ecosystem in this project contains soil, an atmosphere, green plants, plus innumerable "stowaway" micro-organisms.The only resource that enters and leaves the ecosystem is energy.The energy balance is important to an ecosystem. When too much energy enters, the temperature will rise until the energy input is exactly balanced by the heat lost. Conversely, when the energy output (as heat) exceeds the energy input to the system, the temperature of the system will decrease until equilibrium is re-established. In order to achieve stability an ecosystem must attain a state of "dynamic equilibrium". In this state the (average) rate at which resources, such as carbon dioxide, are consumed, is balanced by the rate at which that resource is replaced through the process of recycling.Experience has shown that in a sample of ten or twelve micro-ecosystems (a class set), some will survive only a few weeks, others will last a few months, and rarely, a few will survive more than a year.The challenge is to determine, if possible, the reasons for the abrupt failure of some and the remarkable success of others.
With one frog the odds of your experiment failing is very high: if the frog " newbielink:http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=croak [nonactive]" it will end your project. Forget the frog, creating a stable biosphere with plants & microorganisms (& perhaps snails and worms) will be difficult enough. The greater the number of organisms the higher your chance of success: betting everything on the survival of one frog seems doomed to failure.This may be of interest...QuoteBuilding a micro-ecosystemObjectiveInvestigate the difficulties in building a stable ecosystem containing higher organisms, such as tomatoes and other green plants, in a relatively small space.Some important conceptsAn Ecosystem: An ecosystem is a community of living organisms interacting with each other and their non-living environment.community + habitat = ecosystemFor this investigation we will provide a suitably prepared habitat within a sealed glass jar, into which we will place a small community of plants.Dynamic EquilibriumThe micro-ecosystem in this project contains soil, an atmosphere, green plants, plus innumerable "stowaway" micro-organisms.The only resource that enters and leaves the ecosystem is energy.The energy balance is important to an ecosystem. When too much energy enters, the temperature will rise until the energy input is exactly balanced by the heat lost. Conversely, when the energy output (as heat) exceeds the energy input to the system, the temperature of the system will decrease until equilibrium is re-established. In order to achieve stability an ecosystem must attain a state of "dynamic equilibrium". In this state the (average) rate at which resources, such as carbon dioxide, are consumed, is balanced by the rate at which that resource is replaced through the process of recycling.Experience has shown that in a sample of ten or twelve micro-ecosystems (a class set), some will survive only a few weeks, others will last a few months, and rarely, a few will survive more than a year.The challenge is to determine, if possible, the reasons for the abrupt failure of some and the remarkable success of others. newbielink:http://www.tomatosphere.org/teacher-resources/teachers-guide/grades-8-10/mars-greenhouse.cfm [nonactive]With many jars (micro-ecosystems) you could try different combinations of plants & animal species and see which survived the longest.
Better put a tent over your local pond, put up some coloured flashlights around it and explain that this is your 'forcefield' creating an absolutely 'en closed environment' . Smile happily when not only your frog survives but you also receive the Nobel prize in physics. Be sure to put in the word 'green' and 'stochastic chaos' somewhere, any equations you need can safely be lifted from any physics or meta physics wiki )At least that poor frog will survive, they are a dying breed you know.--Ps: if there gets one more, tell them you are cloning..Or say that it is a frog disco if nothing else helps, that will at least explain the colured lights you're using.--In short, you definitively need a bigger environment if you want it to be 'self sufficient'.