Two ISU researchers will work in Costa Rica over the next three years, learning how to restore rain forest systems to help slow the process of global warming.

“Global warming is defined as an increase in the mean average temperature of the Earth,” said James Raich, associate professor of botany. “It is expected that some areas may be cooler in the future than they are now, and some areas may be warmer, but the overall mean temperature of the Earth will increase. There is widespread agreement that high northern latitudes will warm more than lower latitudes.”

Ann Russell, affiliated assistant professor of natural resource ecology and management, and Raich will be working on this study together.

The study will take place in Costa Rica’s rain forests, Raich said. Russell and Raich will travel to Costa Rica separately throughout the year for a period of two weeks each and return to the university to work on their samples in the lab.

“The most exciting thing about doing this study is getting to go to Costa Rica and see the biological diversity in the plants and birds,” Russell said.

The study is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Russell brought the global warming study to Iowa State, she said. She proposed the study to University officials and after her idea was accepted, the NSF gave the university $500,000 for the study.

“You can translate this study into any location,” Raich said. “One of our goals is to test the computer models to see how it affects Iowa, Costa Rica and the world.”

Eventually, Raich said he plans to hire more people to work on the study.

“We are in the process of hiring a graduate student who would spend a large amount of time down in Costa Rica in the fall,” Raich said. “Undergraduate students will be hired as well. Some of them may go to Costa Rica, and others will get to work in the lab testing the samples.”

In the past few years there has been a disagreement about whether or not global warming really does exist, Raich said.

“Personally, yes, I think global warming does exist,” Raich said. “The difficulty is as scientists we’re being asked to predict the future.”

Raich and Russell said they hope this study will not just apply to global warming. Finding out more about the rain forest and how its carbon dioxide system works is also an interest to the team.