1. The Ecosphere
A little piece of life

3. What is an Ecosphere?
The ecosphere is a close ecosystem, that don’t rely on matter exchange with any part outside the system.
Such systems are scientifically interesting and can potentially serve as a life support system during space flights, in space stations or space habitats.

5. What is in the Ecosphere?
Along with shrimp, there is algae and filtered sea water.
The EcoSphere also contains decorative shells, sea fans (corals and gorgonians), and lightweight gravel as a part of the working ecosystem. \

7. How do Ecospheres Work?
The EcoSphere is a tiny working model of the Earth.
It contains the same essential elements that are found on our planet: air, water, life (algae, microorganisms and shrimp) and land (gravel and sea fan).

9. The Earth System
The earth system is composed by The Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and Lithosphere.
This three spheres compose the Biosphere.

10. The Hydrosphere
The Hydrosphere is the combined mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a planet.
The light from the Sun (insolation), causes evaporation of the water on surfaces, including oceans, rivers, lakes, soil and the leaves of plants.

12. The Lithosphere The Lithosphere is the rigid shell of a rocky planet.
On Earth, it comprises the crust and the portion of the upper mantle

15. Life in Ecosphere
Life functions in the Ecosphere just as it does on Earth.
The shrimp live by consuming the algae and breathing oxygen in the water.
The algae survives by converting the carbon dioxide and light into useable oxygen which the shrimp will then breathe.

17. In a closed ecological system, any waste products produced by one species must be used by the other species.

19. Do the Animals and Plants Reproduce?
Reproduction of shrimp does occur in some Ecospheres, but this is uncommon because they are too delicates.
The algae and bacteria in the Ecosphere continuously reproduce.
In fact, you can expect changes in the algae population in your Ecosphere.

21. How Long will the Ecosphere Live?
The average life of an Ecosphere is between 2 and 3 years.
The life expectancy of the shrimps is known to exceed 5 years, and the oldest Ecospheres are now over 10 years old and still going strong.