Starting Off

This was my first real week at The Biosphere 2 and I can gladly say that I did a lot more than I did last week, although I still cannot start the experiment yet until all the pipes are set up for the plastics research.

Tuesday:

Traveling to The Biosphere always seems to give me a heart attack. It is in the middle of nowhere and once you think you have missed the sign and have completely passed the whole building, you have another 5 miles to go.

After feeding the koi in the aquaponics structure (1g twice a day, make sure all the fish food sinks to the bottom and that you cover the water up afterwards!), I was introduced to some of the other workers at The Biosphere, Laura Faulkenberry who, like Franklin Lane, is an education and outreach specialist, and Liz and Sally who are both workers as well. The four of us then led a field trip for kids ranging from 3rd through 8th grade where they disected squid. (Note to self: start bring food with you because by 11am you will be starving).

Wednesday:

Dr. Lane wasn't here on this day so I did the thing I'd been wanting to do since last week: explore and get lost. To me, The Biosphere is like a maze with multiple exits in every room that go to different places and sometimes land you in the same place you were just a couple of minutes before. The main research floor is 3 acres long and the basement is another 2. On top of all this walking, the temperature is left relatively constant throughout the whole building and in 3 of the 5 main biomes it is HUMID. The best part about being an intern, though, is that I have access to practically every part of the building and am allowed to go through almost every door. I took this time walking around to look at the living quarters the original biopsherians slept in (they have been converted to office spaces now but imagine small rooms with little spiral staircases leading to a small indoor balcony) as well as find all the hidden stairwells that led me to the mangroves and the desert biome. I also took this time to take a couple pictures.

After walking around for about an hour, I attended the first tour of the day just to get some more information about the original biospherians and how The Biosphere operates. For some reason, it never occured to me that the orginal inhabitants actually ate meat and all the animals were kept where the employee's break room is now. After the tour, I located the ocean viewing area and walked all the way to the cafe and the gift shop before walking back to where I parked at the other end of the property. Once I got home I slept. Exercise has never been my strong suit.

Thursday:

My time yesterday was used getting aquainted with daily tasks to perform whenever I am working. My morning was spent lugging around big jugs of water across several different biomes (again, exercise, not my favorite thing) and finding algae covered rocks for Dr. Lane's pet sea urchin and crabs. The highlight of my day was when we took the golf cart out to the research labs (which are surprisingly far away) and talked to a woman named Kim about getting me a fancy Biosphere shirt. Next week Dr. Lane said he would teach me how to drive the golf cart so I can drive myself around the whole property!