To paint a clearer picture of how global climate change will affect Earth's ecosystems, a team of 80 international research scientists set out to complete an unparalleled experiment: forcing the world's only enclosed rainforest – housed in the University of Arizona's Biosphere 2 – through a four-month-long controlled drought and recovery.

Their findings, published this week in the journal Science, revealed a roughly 70% drop in the rainforest's carbon storage – speaking to concerns surrounding forests' ability to capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as climate change progresses. However, an intricate web of water-use strategies and soil interactions were found to support the forest's stability in the face of extreme drought.

"The forest was, in some ways, surprisingly resilient to the drought," said Laura Meredith, one of three leads on the project and an assistant professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The glass-enclosed rainforest at Biosphere 2, which houses 90 plant species across an area the size of seven tennis courts, allowed the researchers to simulate a full ecosystem drought.

Read the full article about diverse plant-water use strategies at Environmental News Network.