Closed ecological system
ecosystem that does not exchange matter with the exterior
Closed ecological systems or contained ecological systems (CES) are ecosystems that do not rely on matter exchange with any part outside the system in order to help maintain life.
The term is most often used to describe small, man-made ecosystems. Such systems can potentially serve as a life-support system or space habitats.
In a closed ecological system, any waste products produced by one species must be used by at least one other species. If the purpose is to maintain a life form, such as a mouse or a human, waste products such as carbon dioxide, feces, and urine must eventually be converted into oxygen, food, and water.
These systems still rely on constant external energy input, such as sunlight.
A closed ecological system must contain at least one autotrophic organism. While both chemotrophic and phototrophic organisms are plausible, almost all closed ecological systems to date are based on an autotroph such as green algae.
Examples
A closed ecological system for an entire planet is called an ecosphere.
Man-made closed ecological systems which were created to sustain human life include Biosphere 2, MELiSSA, and the BIOS-1, BIOS-2, and BIOS-3 projects.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Closed ecological system” as ecosystem that does not exchange matter with the exterior. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as ecosystem that does not exchange matter with the exterior. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3176324. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Closed ecological system” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.