How Does the Amount of Dissolved Oxygen Affect the Number of Macro-Organisms in Biosphere 3?

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How does the Amount of Dissolved Oxygen Affect the Number Of Macro-organisms in Biosphere 3? Background Information: Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a relative measure of the amount of oxygen dissolved or carried in a given medium. While air is essential for all human beings to breathe, aquatic organisms such as fish, plants, and aerobic bacteria all need dissolved oxygen to respire. Adequate dissolved oxygen is necessary for good water quality. Natural stream purification processes require adequate oxygen levels in order to provide for aerobic life forms. (Oxygen Saturation) As dissolved oxygen levels decrease, the aquatic life is put under stress. The lower the concentration is, the greater the stress. Oxygen levels below certain levels can result in large fish kills. Dissolved oxygen is absolutely essential for the survival of all aquatic organisms, and thus these two variables have a definite relationship with another. (5.2 Dissolved Oxygen) Total dissolved gas concentrations in water should not exceed 110 percent. Concentrations above this level can be harmful to aquatic life. Fish in waters containing excessive dissolved gases may suffer from "gas bubble disease". Aquatic invertebrates are also affected by gas bubble disease but at levels higher than those lethal to fish. In recent years, it has come to the understanding to many scientists that oxygen depletion is the most common cause or fish kills in ponds and lakes. (Why Oxygen) As can be seen, environmental oxygenation can be important to the sustainability of a particular ecosystem Thus, it is essential to explore how the amount of dissolved oxygen can impact aquatic life in a system. This experiment is a replication of Biosphere 2 in the early 1990s. It is a closed ecosystem that is artificially constructed to be self-sustainable. The biosphere is defined either as "the place on earth's surface where

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