TUCSON, Ariz. — Environmental scientists from around the world
are supporting a plan for the U.S. Department of Energy to team
with Columbia University to use Biosphere 2 for climate
research, its director said. Government and academic scientists
from countries including Russia, Japan, Italy, Australia and
Israel met at the sealed giant terrarium to determine whether it
would be a suitable site for such research. No specific plan has
been devised. The conference, which ended Tuesday, was viewed as
one that will guide the future of the Biosphere 2 Center, which
now is an arm of Columbia University, managed by Columbia’s
Earth Institute. University officials see the controlled-
environment facility as critical to learning how the earth
responds to changes in climate. Biosphere 2 has distinct
ecological sectors, or biomes, that were built to mimic the
earth’s: a rainforest, desert, savannah and its own miniature
ocean. In addition, there is an area for growing crops or other
plants which is now being used to test