We want to make the jump from what happens in an individual plant to what happens in the plant community in the EcoCELL and ultimately to what actually happens on earth. There is probably no other facility in the world, other than maybe the Biosphere II, that is capable of that degree of scaling. Coleman, along with DRI's Dr. Dale Johnson and Dr. Weixin Cheng, will be taking advantage of these capabilities for a project recently funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. DRI has also received State of Nevada matching funds for the project which will be looking at the issues of scaling measurements up to ecosystem levels. Air temperature and humidity, trace gas concentrations, and air flow rates are strictly controlled and precisely measured.
Carbon is taken up by plants from the air as carbon dioxide.
Nitrogen is also an important nutrient taken up by roots from the soil. But in nature, this equation doesn't always balance. And while some may be willing to turn a blind eye to that scenario, scientists want answers. The EcoCELLs are a perfect place to solve this mystery. Finally, the project will attempt to identify the different reactions of an ecosystem to gradual, as opposed to sudden, changes in environmental factors, in this case nitrogen.