[dramatic percussion music]
- HEY, WELCOME TO "NASA LAUNCHPAD."
I'M YOUR HOST, AUDREY STAPLES.
AS WE'VE MENTIONED BEFORE ON "LAUNCHPAD,"
NASA DOESN'T JUST DO WORK IN SPACE.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF NASA'S WORKFORCE
IS RIGHT HERE ON EARTH,
AND THERE'S A LOT OF WORK GOING ON
TO UNDERSTAND OUR OWN PLANET.
OUR PLANET IS MADE UP OF UNIQUE COMMUNITIES KNOWN AS BIOMES.
HOW DO YOU DETERMINE WHAT MAKES UP A BIOME?
WELL, FOR THE ANSWER, LET'S HEAD OUT TO ARIZONA
AND CHECK OUT THE AMAZING STRUCTURE THAT IS BIOSPHERE 2.
B2, AS IT'S KNOWN, IS CURRENTLY OPERATED
FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA.
SO LET'S HEAR ABOUT BIOMES FROM MATT ADAMSON,
BIOSPHERE 2'S PROGRAM COORDINATOR
FOR EDUCATION AND OUTREACH.
- SO A BIOME IS A MAJOR GEOGRAPHICAL REGION ON EARTH
THAT CONTAINS ITS OWN UNIQUE OR DISTINCTIVE SETS
OF PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE.
SO YOU HAVE THINGS LIKE SAVANNAS, OCEANS, DESERTS,
TROPICAL RAIN FORESTS.
ALL OF THESE WOULD BE CONSIDERED MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS
WITH THEIR OWN UNIQUE PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE.
INSIDE BIOSPHERE 2, THE BIOMES WE HAVE
ARE ALL EITHER TROPICAL OR SUBTROPICAL IN NATURE,
AND SO WE HAVE THINGS LIKE A TROPICAL RAIN FOREST,
A SAVANNA, WHICH IS A GRASSLAND,
A COASTAL FOG DESERT,
AND WE DO HAVE OUR OWN SALTWATER OCEAN.
- ECOLOGISTS USE PATTERNS OF CLIMATE,
LOOKING AT FACTORS LIKE TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION
AS WELL AS THE KINDS OF PLANTS OR ANIMALS
THAT LIVE IN AN AREA
TO DIVIDE THE WORLD INTO DIFFERENT BIOMES.
AND ALTHOUGH EVERY KIND OF BIOME ON EARTH
IS NOT REPRESENTED IN THIS AMAZING STRUCTURE,
EACH BIOME IN BIOSPHERE 2
IS BASED ON AN ACTUAL BIOME HERE ON EARTH,
COMPLETE WITH SMALLER ECOSYSTEMS.
AND THE BIOMES INSIDE BIOSPHERE 2
MAKE IT AN IDEAL PLACE FOR RESEARCH.
BUT WHAT EXACTLY IS BEING STUDIED?
I'LL LET MATT EXPLAIN.
- THERE IS A FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION ABOUT--
THAT CONNECTS TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY
TO GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE,
AND WE WANT TO STUDY THE SENSITIVITY
OF KEY TERRESTRIAL BIOMES
AS THEY RELATE TO VARIABILITY IN GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE.
BY RUNNING BOTH DROUGHT AND WARMING EXPERIMENTS
IN THIS CONTROLLED ECOSYSTEM,
WE EXPECT TO GAIN A MORE MECHANISTIC UNDERSTANDING
OF THE FUTURE RESPONSE OF TROPICAL RAIN FORESTS
TO CLIMATE CHANGE
FROM THE INDIVIDUAL PLANT LEVEL
ALL THE WAY UP TO THE LEVEL OF AN ENTIRE ECOSYSTEM.
- OKAY, WE KNOW THAT ALL LIVING THINGS
ARE CLOSELY RELATED TO THEIR ENVIRONMENT.
ANY CHANGE IN ONE PART OF THAT ENVIRONMENT
CAN CAUSE A RIPPLE EFFECT THROUGHOUT THE OTHER PARTS.
AND B2 USES BIOMES IN THE WORLD TO LEARN ABOUT THOSE RIPPLES.
BUT WHY RAIN FORESTS, ESPECIALLY THE LARGEST ONE IN THE WORLD,
THE AMAZON RAIN FOREST IN SOUTH AMERICA?
- SO THE AMAZON IS OF INTEREST
BECAUSE IT'S ONE OF THESE KEY
SENSITIVE TERRESTRIAL BIOMES I MENTIONED
IN THAT IT CONTAINS UNPARALLELED BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY,
IT CONTAINS A GLOBALLY SIGNIFICANT STORE
OF ORGANIC CARBON,
AND IT IS A POTENT ENGINE THAT DRIVES THE WATER
AND CLIMATE CYCLE ON EARTH.
- I UNDERSTAND WHY THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
WANTS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY,
OR THE VARIETY OF LIFE FOUND HERE ON EARTH,
BUT HOW DOES NASA FIT INTO ALL THIS?
- SO OUR SIGNIFICANT RAIN FOREST RESEARCH
REALLY IS CONNECTED TO TWO KEY LEGACIES
OF THE LARGE-SCALE BIOSPHERE ATMOSPHERE EXPERIMENT
IN AMAZONIA THAT WAS FUNDED IN LARGE PART BY NASA.
SO ESSENTIALLY, WHAT THAT MEANS IS,
WE'RE TAKING DATA THAT NASA HAS ALREADY PAID FOR
THROUGH OTHER PROJECTS
AND USING IT TO COMPARE TO RESPONSES
IN OUR RAIN FOREST HERE,
WHICH IS IN A CONTROLLED SETTING,
SO THAT WHEN WE'RE CHANGING THINGS
LIKE GASES IN THE ATMOSPHERE, TEMPERATURE,
REDUCING PRECIPITATION WHEN WE PUT THEM THROUGH DROUGHTS,
WE THEN CAN COMPARE THIS SORT OF CONTROL DATA
TO REAL-WORLD DATA THAT NASA'S COLLECTED THROUGH THESE--
FOR EXAMPLE, THESE FLUX TOWERS THAT ARE COLLECTING DATA
THROUGHOUT THE AMAZON.
SO SORT OF A SYNTHESIS OF REAL-WORLD DATA COLLECTION
AND CONTROLLED-WORLD DATA COLLECTION.
- TALK ABOUT HAVING A GREAT SETUP
TO CHANGE AN INDEPENDENT VARIABLE;
OBSERVE THE RESULTS, OR DEPENDENT VARIABLE;
AND COMPARE THOSE RESULTS TO REAL-WORLD DATA.
I GUESS THOSE AREN'T JUST WORDS IN YOUR TEXTBOOK.
NOW, WHAT ABOUT A SPECIFIC EXAMPLE OF THIS RESEARCH?
- ONE THAT IS UNDER WAY AND HAS BEEN FOR SOME TIME
IS A STUDY OF VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF THE RAIN FOREST BIOME.
AND VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ESSENTIALLY ARE THE 1% OF OUR ATMOSPHERE--
IF YOU CONSIDER THAT 78% OF OUR ATMOSPHERE IS NITROGEN,
21% IS OXYGEN,
THE REMAINING 1% OR LESS
ARE THINGS THAT WE WOULD THINK OF AS GREENHOUSE GASES:
CARBON DIOXIDE, ETHANOL, THINGS LIKE THAT.
AND THE PERSON WHO'S STUDYING VOCs IN OUR RAIN FOREST
IS PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN THE NATURAL PRODUCTION
OF ETHANOL IN RAIN FOREST SYSTEMS.
SO WE'RE ACTUALLY COLLECTING GAS SAMPLES FROM THE RAIN FOREST
AND THEN ANALYZING THEM IN HIS LAB.
HE HOPES TO GET A BASELINE UNDERSTANDING
OF NATURAL PRODUCTION OF ETHANOL,
BECAUSE IF WE THINK ABOUT MOVING TO ETHANOL
AS AN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCE,
SO AS WE POWER AUTOMOBILES, FOR EXAMPLE, WITH ETHANOL
INSTEAD OF GASOLINE,
WELL, IT COULD BE THAT WE'RE SUBSTITUTING ONE GREENHOUSE GAS,
CO2, FOR ANOTHER, IN ETHANOL.
AND SO HE WANTS TO UNDERSTAND
SOME OF THE NATURAL-OCCURRING ETHANOL
BEFORE WE AS HUMAN BEINGS PERHAPS START PUTTING
A LOT OF INDUSTRIAL-PRODUCED ETHANOL INTO THE ATMOSPHERE.
SO THAT'S ONE EXAMPLE OF HOW WE'RE USING OUR RAIN FOREST
TO STUDY NATURAL PROCESSES
AND, IN THIS CASE, AN ANALOG TO THE AMAZON.
- IT JUST GOES TO SHOW YOU,
THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS IS NEVER COMPLETE.
SCIENTISTS ARE CONTINUALLY MAKING OBSERVATIONS,
COLLECTING DATA, PREDICTING RESULTS,
AND ANALYZING THEIR FINDINGS.
THAT'S IT FOR NOW. I'M AUDREY STAPLES.
THANKS FOR WATCHING,
AND WE'LL CATCH YOU NEXT TIME ON "NASA LAUNCHPAD."