Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona

This Partnership for International Research and Education (PIRE) addresses a fundamental earth system science question that cannot be answered without a strong collaboration between scientists in North and South America: what is the future of Amazon forests under climate change?

Models that simulate the interaction of climate with carbon and water cycles, mediated by vegetation, suggest that these forests will collapse due to global warming-induced drying. But other models predict resilience. Since the current knowledge is insufficient to resolve the discrepant predictions, this project is conducting a suite of long-term observations, integrated with modeling, to improve our understanding of forest-climate interactions in the Amazon.

Amazon-PIRE is an international partnership between scientists in the U.S. and in Brazil which seeks to:

• understand the future of Amazon forests under climate change by integrating observations of Amazon forest response to droughts with experiments in the enclosed Tropical Forest Biome of the University of Arizona's Biosphere 2.

• transform science education by establishing an innovative model for authentic international collaboration as a basis for education and training of science students in both the U.S. and Brazil.

The U.S. partners of Amazon-PIRE are funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation's Office of International Science and Education, and the Brazilian partners are funded by grants from the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology's CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development).