Dr. Joost van Haren

Dr. Joost van Haren is an earth scientist, who conducts his research on ecosystem responses to climate change in the Biosphere 2 rainforest and the rainforests of the Amazon basin. He also has an appointment with the honors college as a professor of practice to teach honors specific course and run the honors internships at Biosphere 2.During the practice of science, we try to better understand how the world around us functions and responds to changes. In the Biosphere 2 rainforest, the research focusses on tropical forest ecosystem and individual plant responses to climate change: increasing carbon dioxide concentrations, increasing temperature, and stronger and more frequent droughts. The research is inherently social in nature, because it is impossible for any human being to fully understand how the world around us functions. For optimal ecosystem research, we also need to understand how we can better communicate and work together.