In the years during and following the Biosphere II project, it received criticis
ID: 234936 • Letter: I
Question
In the years during and following the Biosphere II project, it received criticism from scientists, the media, and project insiders alike. Many scientists outside the study said the results were predictable, that it was doomed to fail because such a small system could not support humans and diverse ecosystems at the same time. Scientists involved in the project had difficulty getting their results published, because reviewers criticized the lack of experimental replication in the study. The Biospherians themselves were divided into two camps over how to manage the dome, and whether they should allow oxygen to be added or not. Others have praised the study for demonstrating how incredibly our own Earth (Biosphere I) functions, and how difficult it would be to replicate with an artificially engineered system. The way the experiment failed—imbalance in the carbon cycle—is also ironically similar to the condition humans are creating on Earth.
What do you think: was the Biosphere a worthy endeavor? Does it qualify as an experiment, or was it simply a demonstration, or a media stunt? Would you consider it a success that humans did remain inside for 2 years? Or was it failure because they had to receive oxygen?
Explanation / Answer
Yes according to me it was worth doing as it helped us in assessing viability of an ecosystem in artificially created biosphere.Though many people criticised it but according to me it was worth investment of money and time.As for me creating artificial nature is exciting venture.Though loss of many animals happened ,loss of plants but in my view it was a wonderful experiment.
According to me it was an experiment which was meant to monitor ecology in total closed artificially created ecological system.Study was done that agriculture is possible or not in such an artificial system.Yes it was success for me that humans did remain inside it for 2 years as there should have been many learnings from it in these two years and i would not consider it as failure because of failure of oxygen because overall it was a very good learning experiment about a new aspect.
Thank you