science questions¶

NASA Science Plan: “Detect and predict changes in Earth’s ecosystems
and biogeochemical cycles, including land cover,
biodiversity, and the global carbon cycle”.

What are the global patterns of plant diversity?

How is plant diversity changing, and what are the causes?

How does changing plant diversity affect global ecosystem services, such as plant productivity, water availability and the carbon cycle?

How have the physical environment, earth history and interactions amongst species shaped the global distribution of plant species?

What are the feedbacks between changing patterns of plant functional diversity and the climate system? How do these feedbacks affect predictions of future climate?

How are global patterns of plant diversity and productivity related regionally, globally and over time?

What are the relative roles of land use, chemical and physical climate change, and invasive species on changing global plant diversity?

How are global patterns of plant diversity related to the distribution and function of microbes and animals?