Ecosphere with shrimp

What is an Ecosphere and how does it work?

An Ecosphere is a self contained world with everything it needs inside to create a life cycle. Nasa first created Ecospheres to recreate conditions of a miniature Earth. The Ecosphere in this video contains water, algae and shrimp. The algae creates oxygen through photosynthesis. The shrimp consume the algae and the oxygen, and produce biological nutrients which in turn creates more algae.

The algae feeds the shrimp. The shrimp feeds the algae.

All that is needed is the right amount of sunlight. The balance within the Ecosphere will continue to create life providing there isn't too much or too little sunlight.

NOTE: This Ecosphere arrived in June 2012 with four shrimp and successfully grew fresh algae. To date, all the shrimp are still alive. It's documented that shrimp in the wild can last 20 years. Some Ecospheres with Nasa are over 10 years old and are still going strong.