What plants and animals would be advisable to include in an artificial ecosystem aboard a space colony?

Question

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=20060616165836AACihbL&pa=FYd1D2bwHTHwIbpjFOg4QFp3KB.11MJTlMdMKY07aIUhCw--

What species would be good for food? What species would be good for compost process? What species would be good for soil?
What species would be good for the air cycle? How does one create a balanced ecosystem in a space colony?

"This sounds like homework. ;)"

I'm John Mark Bassist 34 years old, not enrolled in any kind of education, using socratic method to test humanities IQ.
I have an IQ of 180. These are the kinds of questions that actually interest me; the standard question on yahoo questions is too boring.
Next?

"Creating an ecologically-sound community in space is a bit ambitious, isn't it? We humans can't seem to manage that task on earth. "

Irrelevant. I agree with you. How do you trick the masses into asking the right Questions?

df382
1 day ago
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best answer so far

Answer 1

A balanced ecosystem is one where all the components of the ecosphere can sustain life with only the addition of energy. Everything is recycled.

So to sustain human life you need air, water and food and radiant energy.

1.) The simplest ecosystem that will do this is a ecosystem made up of machinery, spirulina algae, air, water and a human.
A human breaths in 600 litres of Oxygen a day and eats 600 gms of algae a day.

The waste from the human (720 litres of Carbon Dioxide, Urine faeces, water vapour, skin sheddings, hairs and nails) are machined (sterilised and oxidised) and then fed to algae. The algae powered by light energy recycles the basic components and provides the Oxygen and food for the human.

This will be a pretty boring existence but it is sustainable.


2.) For a more exciting life you will need to look at what the earth offers and select what you want to take with you on your spaceship.

The most important part of the cycle is the conversion of carbon dioxide to oxygen - the most efficient plant that does this is algae so you will need large tubes of algae.

The food that you grow will depend on the tastes of the crew. When plants are growing you will need less algae as your fruits and vegetable plants will be doing some of the carbon dioxide conversion. You could also grow plants, like cotton, for clothing and shrubs for paper. Remember that plants suck Carbon out of the system and use it in the plant stems and leaves. You can get the carbon back by burning the plant or having it decomposed.

If you decide that must have meat on the spaceship you will need algae for air and whatever the animals eat. Guinea Pigs, Fish and chicken have all been recommended as food for long spaceflights.

To convert the waste from the humans plants and animals you can either use machinery or you can bring in the microbes that break down waste and create compost. For that you'd need animals like fungi, bacteria and some of the insects like wood lice and earthworms.

The whole system would need to be monitored and the ratio of carbon dioxide to oxygen in the system would have to be monitored. Too little oxygen and some of the carbon dioxide producing components like decomposition would have to be shut down. Too little carbon dioxide and the reverse should happen.

To set up an ecosystem you would need to work out how much of the different elements you will need for the flight. Just for the atmosphere you need Nitrogen, Oxygen Carbon Dioxide, Helium etc. Do the same for the biomass that the ecosystem will support and the soil. Don't forget the trace elements required by life as well. Build in contingency stocks of elements that can be accessed if the ecosystem crashes. The larger the ecosystem the more stable it is.

Build your monitoring machinery and run simulations of different scenarios to see what should happen in emergencies. Build your ecosphere and then start stock your ecosystem. At this stage everything that goes into the ecosphere should be sterilised so that animals you don't want are not introduced.

Leave the ecosystem to run within reach of help for a few years. Once it is clear that the ecosphere is working on it's own and no strange problems are likely to crop up. Launch the ecosphere.

Answer 2

I find the whole story rather fishy. The man is an officer of law and should know better that wild animals need special care and being that the deer was tore up I dont see why they didnt take it to a vet at least. And then there is the time frame. 2 years is a long time to need to nurse any injury and if the injuries were so bad like i said why didnt they take the deer to a vet. Then I dont understand how the ranger didnt take the deer once it was found at the house. Also if the deer was able to escape and go back into the wild why hadnt they released the deer sooner. Now that there is no more deer there is no evidence that the deer had even been there or even how long the deer had been there. All these people have to say is that they never had the deer locked up at there house . that it was able to come and go as it pleased which they had no control over so they cant be charged with harboring the animal. If thier county wants to waste tax payers money on a case that there is no victim they would have to be very lame. All that needs to be done is simply a warning to the couple that next time they find an injured wild animal to please call animal control to pick it up. The whole thing is no big deal. So what if they had been taking care of the deer and had it locked up. Its not like they werent feeding it. Its really sad to think with all the other problems that are going on in this world that the officials in thier area are so petty.

Answer 3

This sounds like homework. ;)

As for food: Think about it. Would large animals be good to be kept with people in enclosed spaces? Or would plants that suck up our CO2 and provide O2 for our consumption be a better food source?

Compost: Ever heard of earthworms and fungi?

Soil: Plants that provide lots of nitrogen (look some up in Wikipedia).

Air cycle: Pick a plant, any plant.

A balanced ecosystem in a space colony? Creating an ecologically-sound community in space is a bit ambitious, isn't it? We humans can't seem to manage that task on earth.

Answer 4

veggies that grow fast and replenish easily like potatoes, tomatoes, corn, beans, carrots, lettuce. the scraps from these all make good compost. earthworms are good for the soil. might want some aloe vera for wounds. any plants with large leaves will be good for the air cycle. and to build a balanced ecosystem on a space colony- take the above mentioned stuff to a space colony

Answer 5

Turtles would be a good food source..excellent in small quarters.Good for soups and nutrients; Lots of earthworms, they create aeration which is excellent for the soil.;the downside to this is they are vegetarians, so habitat them where there are the taller vegetables growing, or place them in seperate quarters. I am sorry, but the third question I do not understand the relaivity of. Sugar beets , sugar cane. lettuces, cabbages, tomatoes, beans. Of course you need lots of water.

Answer 6

Probably insects, especially cockroaches as gross as that sounds, because they can pretty much survive anywhere.