Bottle Biosphere by Noah Friedenberg

For my project I maintained a biosphere using coke bottles to encompass all of the elements of the biosphere. I had an "atmosphere" (upper) portion and a hydrosphere (lower) portion. I maintained this biosphere for about 1 month-2 months. When observing this biosphere I noticed three key components of the biosphere: the carbon cycle, the water cycle, and the nitrogen cycle. In my "atmosphere" I had plants, soil, and worms. The plants help the water move around and allow the decomposers (worms) to eat the plants. The lower portion had water, gravel, a marimo ball, and a fish. The "atmosphere" was touching the top part of the water (in the lower portion) so that the water could travel from the lower portion into the soil of the upper portion. The betta fish helped the nitrogen cycle take place as its toxic waste was a key component in the cycle. Lastly the marimo ball and the fish pooping allowed eutrophication to take place in the hydrosphere, so the water got very green with algae. One day I just had seeds in my soil and the next day I had plants growing. All three of these cycles intertwine to create a self-sustainable biosphere.