Exploring Biodiversity and Climate Change

7min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

The chapter delves into the interconnectedness of all living organisms and the critical role of biodiversity in the history and resilience of life on Earth, including the impacts of mass extinction events. It discusses the current challenges posed by climate change on biodiversity and ecological processes, emphasizing the need to understand fundamental laws of life for predicting future impacts. The chapter also explores the complexities of predicting the future of the biosphere under different scenarios, reflecting on the historical focus on weather forecasts and the merging of naturalistic and rule-based approaches in understanding biodiversity.

Guests:

Brian Enquist, External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of Arizona
Pablo Marquet, External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, Professor at Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Hosts: Abha Eli Phoboo & Chris Kempes

Producer: Katherine Moncure

Podcast theme music by: Mitch Mignano

Other music: Craig Smith, Justkiddink, MaestroALF, ComputerHotline, James Ro Davidson, SoundEnsemble, Trundlefly, Geoff Bremner, Newagesgroup, Oddmonoliths, Thepla

More info:

SFI programs: Education

Complexity Explorer: Origins of Life: Astrobiology & General Theories for Life - Scaling with Pablo Marquet

Books:

Scale by Geoffrey West
Scaling Biodiversity (Ecological Reviews) edited by David Storch, Pablo Marquet , James Brown
How Landscapes Change: Human Disturbance and Ecosystem Fragmentation in the Americas (Ecological Studies Book 162) edited by Gay A. Bradshaw and Pablo A. Marquet

Talks:

Better Forecasting our Ecological Future: Taming Big Data with Big Theory, Brian Enquist

Papers & Articles:

“More than 17,000 tree species are at risk from rapid global change,” in Nature Communications (January 2, 2024), doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44321-9
“Metastatic cells exploit their stoichiometric niche in the network of cancer ecosystems,” in Science Advances (December 13, 2023), doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adi79
“Environmental heterogeneity as a driver of terrestrial biodiversity on a global scale” in PPG: Earth and Environment (August 11, 2023), doi.org/10.1177/03091333231189045
“The number of tree species on Earth,” PNAS (Jan 31, 2022), doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2115329119
“Globally important plant functional traits for coping with climate change,” in Frontiers of Biogeography (October 2, 2021), doi.org/10.21425/F5FBG53774
“Scaling from Traits to Ecosystems: Developing a General Trait Driver Theory via Integrating Trait-Based and Metabolic Scaling Theories,” Advances in Ecological
Research (May 4, 2015), doi.org/10.1016/bs.aecr.2015.02.001
“A general quantitative theory of forest structure and dynamics,” PNAS (April 28, 2009), doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0812294106