I found out a few things about terraria, and about the effect of high levels of CO2 on plants in the following places:
- N. Schwarz & B. R. Strain (1990) Carbon — A plant nutrient, deficiency and sufficiency, Journal of Plant Nutrition, 13:9, 1073-1078, DOI: 10.1080/01904169009364136
This paper discusses the effect of exposing various vegetables to a CO2 concentration of 10000ppm (1%) for 6 days. Normal outdoor concentration is about 400ppm at the time of writing. Generally, the plants exhibited observable effects, and growth was delayed, but the plants recovered after the CO2 concentration was returned to normal levels. Out of curiosity I looked up what the maximum CO2 concentration is in spacecraft, and found here that it's usually about 0.5%, but that people can tolerate at least 2% for days with no obvious harmful effects. - Stephen L. Thompson (2007) Inquiry in the Life Sciences: The Plant-in-a-Jar as a Catalyst for Learning, Science Activities: Classroom Projects and Curriculum Ideas, 43:4, 27-33, DOI: 10.3200/SATS.43.4.27-33
This paper discusses the educational value of growing a plant in a sealed jar. The activity prompts students to think about what plants need to grow and where they get it from, and how to answer those questions. This paper also mentions Nathanial Bagshaw Ward, who was one of the first people to grow plants in sealed containers. His work led to the use of sealed containers for transplanting plants on ships. - Martin et al. Extreme Physiology & Medicine 2012, 1:4. A paradigm of fragile Earth in Priestley's bell jar.
This paper describes an experiment about sealing a person in a container for 48 hours with enough plants to produce the oxygen that he needed. - Marsarium 9
A fern was grown for 30 days in soil thought to be similar to that found on Mars, in an atmosphere with the same composition as on Mars (albeit at 1 bar of pressure rather than the 6 mbar pressure found on Mars). The Fern in this project was apparently able to survive in a 96% CO2 environment for 30 days. The atmosphere wasn't monitored though, so I don't know how the atmospheric composition changed over time. Given the paper mentioned above about harmful effects of 1% CO2 concentration on plants, it would be interesting to know whether the CO2 level stayed at 96% for the whole 30 days, or whether the fern converted some of it to O2, or whether any of it leaked out.
UPDATE 23rd April 2018:
I found this guide to plant lighting very informative:
https://horticulture.ahdb.org.uk/sites/default/files/u3089/Lighting_The-principles.pdf
This review of growing plants in space was also interesting, although the problems of growing plants in a weightless environment (such as preventing pooling and maintaining airflow) are somewhat different from the problems of growing plants on Mars:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214552415300092?via%3Dihub
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