Blog Post Week 14

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This week I went to the Biosphere field trip with Dr. Cotter and Abeer. The original vision of Biosphere 2 was to create a model of earth’s natural systems: rainforest, ocean, savanna, wetlands, and desert. This unique ability to manipulate environments provides scientists’ greater understanding of global climate change effects and causes. The mission of Biosphere 2 is to advance our understanding of the natural and manmade environment through unique experimentation, training of interdisciplinary scientists, science education and public outreach, and organization of meetings to address grand challenges that affect the quality of life and the understanding of our place in the universe.  The seven model ecosystems are: 1) a mature rain forest with over 90 tropical tree species, 2) a 2600 m3 ocean, 3) forested swamps dominated by mangrove trees, 4) a tropical savanna grassland, 5) a 1400 m2 coastal fog desert, 6) three desert hillslope grass-shrubland landscapes, and 7) Biosphere 2, it’s campus, and associated buildings and facilities serve as a 162,000 m2 model city and urban ecosystem (The University of Arizona).

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