Jane Poynter and seven others lived in a 3-acre terrarium for two years to test the viability of which type of ecosystem?

The project that Jane Poynter and her group participated in involved living in a sealed environment, specifically designed to mimic a self-sustaining ecosystem. This setting is known as an artificial ecosystem because it was created by humans to study ecological dynamics under controlled conditions. In a closed ecosystem, resources and energy are contained within it, allowing researchers to observe how life can thrive in a controlled environment without external influences.

The distinction of being artificial highlights the fact that it was constructed rather than occurring naturally. This setting provided invaluable insights into how living organisms interact with each other and their environment when all the components are put together in a human-created system. Such experiments are crucial for understanding sustainability, resource management, and the potential for life in extremities, such as future space habitats. Hence, the focus on an artificial ecosystem accurately reflects the nature of their study and the conditions they experienced.