1. How is it related to the Biosphere on Earth?
Do Now
What is Biosphere 2?
How is it related to the Biosphere on Earth?

2. ENGINEERING EARTH CHAPTER 6 ECOSYSTEMS AND NUTRIENT CYCLING
A desert experiment gone awry

3. The total area on Earth where living things are found.
WHAT IS THE BIOSPHERE?
The total area on Earth where living things are found.

4. Clicker Question
The biosphere is basically the sum of all ____________ in a given area, representing all the organisms in that area as well as the physical environment in which they interact.
habitats
ecosystems
biomes
communities
Answer: B

5. HOW IS LIFE IN THE
BIOSPHERE ORGANIZED?

7. HOW DOES THE
BIOSPHERE FUNCTION?

8. The biosphere functions through two fundamental processes: energy flow and nutrient cycling.

9. The Earth is energetically open but materially closed.

10. WHAT IS A BIOME?

11. A biome is a distinctive type of ecosystem determined by climate and identified by the predominant vegetation and organisms that have adapted to live there.

12. HOW MANY DIFFERENT
BIOMES ARE THERE?

13. Within these categories are several subgroups.
Biomes can be divided into three main types — terrestrial, marine, and freshwater.  
Within these categories are several subgroups.

15. How was Biosphere 2 designed to mimic the biosphere?

16. Do Now How was the Biosphere 2 designed to mimic Earths biosphere?
What did the study accomplish?
What went wrong, and what lessons can be learned for future similar experiments?

17. BIOSPHERE
BIOSPHERE 2
The biosphere is a large and complex system with many different biomes and ecosystems that all contribute to overall function.
Biosphere 2 also has several biomes contributing to overall function. But being approximately 3 acres in area, the challenge was including a variety of biomes in such close proximity.

19. WHY ARE BIOMES
FUNCTIONALLY SIMILAR
BUT DIFFERENT IN THEIR
SPECIES MEMBERSHIP?

20. Species within each biome are specifically adapted to the particular environmental conditions of that biome.

21. Range of tolerance: The range of a limiting factor
within which a species can survive and reproduce.
Limiting factor: The critical resource whose availability determines species population size distribution.

22. WHY DID BIOSPHERE 2 FAIL?
The likely culprit: the failure of nutrient cycles.

23. WHAT ARE NUTRIENT CYCLES?

24. The movement of nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous through the abiotic and biotic components of ecosystems.

25. Biotic Reservoirs Abiotic Reservoirs
Producers
Consumers
Decomposers
Biotic Reservoirs
Lower than normal ozone levels in the atmosphere
Atmosphere
Hydrosphere
Lithosphere
Abiotic Reservoirs
CFCs might be causing the ozone to disappear

26. Processes that cycle carbon

27. Do Now
How are the biogeochemical nutrient cycles different from one another? How are they similar?
In what ways do human activities affect the nutrient cycling process?

28. Carbon Cycle

29. Nitrogen Cycle

30. Phosphorous Cycle

31. How nutrient cycling failed in Biosphere 2

32. How human activities interfere with nutrient cycling in the biosphere
Adds phosphorous and nitrogen to the hydrosphere, where it is a limiting factor
Reduces carbon uptake from atmosphere into biotic reservoirs
Releases carbon, and nitrogen from fossil fuel sinks into the atmosphere

33. So what can we learn from Biosphere 2?
But learning how they function can help us restore degraded ones.
Ecosystems are complicated
But learning how our actions affect it can help us change course.
The biosphere is irreplaceable

34. “Isolating small pieces of large biomes and juxtaposing them in an artificial enclosure changed their functioning and interactions, rather than creating a small working earth as originally intended.”
–Science magazine