We are a transAtlantic collaboration whose principal collaborators are Dr. Laurance Doyle (U.S.A.) and Dr. Martin Heath (U.K.).
Our core research interest is what it takes to make a world habitable.
We are looking in particular at conditions that would enable a planet to sustain a forest biomass comparable to that of the Earth.
This provides a conceptual thermometer for assessing planetary habitability:
1) It throws a spotlight on the problem of defining what we mean by a truly "Earth-like" planet.
2) Organisms native to other planets may be radically different from those on Earth. This technique provides pointers to the adaptations that would be required by organisms if they
were to thrive in environments unlike those those on our home planet.
The Earth's great tropical forests appear as swathes of dark green in this distant view of our world taken by the NASA/NOAA DSCOVR satellite on Jan. 2, 2016.
ECOSPHERES PROJECT 