Applied evolution and global sustainability

- This part of my research explores sustainability solutions from evolutionary biology

Evolutionary biology provides an integrative and process-oriented framework for the study of solutions to the societal challenges related to managing and interacting with living systems.

Whether we are concerned with human health, food and natural resource security, or the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services, evolutionary biology help us understand why some organisms are struggling to stave off extinction and others are adapting quickly to proliferate under current global environmental changes.

Further, when we apply this knowledge to the future, evolutionary biology is showing itself as a good starting point for predicting the likelihood of desired or unintended consequences of human practices in biological systems.

I recently co-led a multidisciplinary synthesis of how applied evolutionary biology can help solve some of the global challenges of the 21st century. The synthesis was published in Science Magazine in 2014.

Two past projects on summarizing the practical application of principles of evolutionary biology, and evolutionary principles possible contribution to environmental management and policy, are available as open-access papers in a Special Issue of Evolutionary Applications (follow the links). 

Access the entire open access special issue, here.