Marcia L. Gerencser
Biosphere 2—a small earth. This is a fascinating project and hopefully will lead to a better understanding of the way in which the Earth works. Goethe once said, “Nothing happens in living nature that is not in relation to the whole.” In scientific terms we call this the web of life. Biosphere 2 is the web of life that keeps the elements of the Earth in harmony and in balance with each other. It is located at the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, at the edge of the Sonora Desert, just thirty miles north of Tucson, Arizona. The city of Oracle, Arizona, is proud to boast of such a dramatic piece of construction that covers the length of three football fields.
Located in Biosphere 2 are what scientists call five wild zones. There is a rain forest, an ocean, a desert, a savannah and a marsh. The biospherian candidates who live there have a small farm of their own to work at and study and they live in what is called a micro city. Housed in this glass structure is the web of life with its plants and animals, water, air and food.
To study Biosphere 2 is a project in itself but does lend itself to some interesting research for children and in the light of this project some valuable and applicable information that they will be able to use. Have children form groups of 4-5 members. Instruct them to choose some of the following questions to answer and present to the class.
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1. What is the length, width, height and square footage of Biosphere 2?
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2. Why is it considered to hold the web of life?
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3. What makes up the web of life in Biosphere 2?
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4. Explain the continuous cycle of water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, ammonia and nitrogen that moves through Biosphere 2.
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5. Explain the cycle of food, consumers, and waste-matter that makes up the food web.
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6. Explain how plants leave waste matter and the positive effects of this process.
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7. Choose one of the environments and present a full description of the component parts (savannah, ocean, rain forest, marsh or desert).
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8. What was the purpose of using glass walls and roof and how was this constructed?
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9. When the heat expands inside the biosphere because of the intense heat of the sun, why doesn’t Biosphere 2 “blow up”?
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10. How does Biosphere 2 get its power?
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11. How is the air kept clean? (soil-bed reactors)
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12. Who lived in Biosphere 2? What were their fields of expertise? Where did they come from? What are they doing now? If you wanted to work in Biosphere 2, how would you go about applying for a position?
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13. What is the mix of animals? Where do they live? What are they used for? Are animals born in Biosphere 2? What happens if one of them dies?
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14. Why are most of the animals small? How do they fit into the food-web system?
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15. Where are plants located? What are some of the things that plants provide?
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16. Why is the hummingbird so especially important? What is its main job?
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17. Why are herbs grown? What is one of their most important functions? (medicine)
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18. What are the highest and lowest temperatures allowed in the biomes? How do they control these temperatures?
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19. What are the dimensions of the rain forest, savannah, ocean, desert, marsh, lungs and the farm?
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20. What is the volume, in cubic feet of the ocean water, fresh water, lungs and air?
There are a multitude of questions that could be researched. Give the children the freedom to include, expand upon or demonstrate in art form any material that they feel is relevant. An excellent resource is The Glass Ark, The Story of Biosphere 2, by Linnea Gentry and Karen Liptak and published by the Penguin Group, New York, New York, 1991. You can also write to Biosphere 2 Center, Highway 77 & Mile Marker 96.5, Oracle, AZ 85623. The telephone # is (800)828-2462; fax # is (520)896-6429. Using the computer, e-mail Veronica Gillen, at vgillenbio2.edu.
