Debriefing about the nomadic ecosystem

The nomadic ecosystem

What?

the project "opensailing" is divided between different labs.The Nomadic Ecosystem is a very important part of this adventure, because this is a major link between the scientific studies (international oceanic station) and the self-sufficiency of the team.
In this way, we imagined a biomass production module (BPM), independent from the main platform, but directly in relation to it, following the concept of instinctive architecture.






Why?

There are three major interests in the development of this part of the project

1-Culture of phytoplankton

the BPM is a conductive environment for recuperation of phytoplankton with a view to analyze :
- CO2 capture (CO2 sinks)
- energy production (biofuel)
the advantage of a nomadic structure is that it will be possible to compare different species of plankton, and to optimize the result of it.
Finally a real library of phytoplankton will be created and will be a strong base for biologic and ecologic researches.

2-Creation of an ecosystem
Creation of an ecosystem is a very great idea, but objectively, it is a really difficult task. Everybody will agree, reproducing the amazing work of nature is almost impossible when the limit of this experience is  time.
however phytoplankton is the basis of the whole aquatic ecosystem, it is bait for other animals, and the design and the configuration of this module will create a refuge for living species.
this space will be, in the short term, an ecosystem model.

3-Food production
This tiny ecosystem  will be a wonderful area for fishing for aquatic animals, and little fish, and these ones will be bait for the bigger fish that constitute an important input of animal proteins in the team's nutrition.

in parallel, on the opensailing platform, a basic laboratory must be developed for :
-producing an intensive culture of stump
-controlling these stumps separately (library)
-testing a bioreactor for energy and CO2 capture

references :
books
Aquaculture, references(editions synthese agricole)
Chimie de l eau de mer, Gerard Copin-Montegut (institut oceanographique)

web
http://www.oceano.org/io/spip.php?rubrique3