narrator: phil dustan is an ecologist and marine biologist who has been monitoring coral reefs since the mid 1970s. dustan: i had the privilege of working with jacques cousteau in the 1970s and 1980s. i worked with him as a scientist that helped make movies about coral reefs, and i worked as principal scientist on the calypso. cousteau was inspirational. he taught us that the oceans are alive. that was the biggest gift of all that he could ever give to humanity as a single human being. alling: i grew up by the sea, and i sailed asas a very young girl, would d go out on a smsma, 12-foot boat and just loved being in the middle of the ocean. narrator: after spending over a decade at sea studying whales, dolphins, and marine life of all kinds, at age 26, gaie alling was invited to take part in a unique experiment. together with her partner, 25-year-old engineer mark van thillo, and a small team of experts, gaie lived for two years inside biosphere 2, a scientific working m model of the earth's biosphere. alling: biosphere 2 was a manmade, contained, closed system that was trying to re-cre