Alex Antonelli on learning from nature's biodiversity to adapt to climate change
Sep 19, 2023
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Alexandre Antonelli, a bio-geographer, discusses the importance of biodiversity and the need to protect it. He shares insights on the evolution of new species due to changes in Earth's landscape. He highlights the urgency to document and understand the richness of life to effectively protect it. The podcast also explores Antonelli's childhood memories in the Atlantic Rainforest and his journey through different research positions and job opportunities. Other interesting topics include the potential of neglected plant varieties and the impact of planting trees on biodiversity.
Understanding the role of geography and climate in species adaptation and evolution can help protect biodiversity from climate change.
Protecting and studying the Atlantic forest is crucial due to its immense biodiversity and unknown potential.
Deep dives
The Role of Geography in Biodiversity
Alexander Antonelli, the director of science at the Royal Botanic Gardens Q and professor of biodiversity at the University of Gothenburg, studies how geography, such as the formation of mountains and rivers, has shaped the earth's biodiversity. He explores the impact of landscape changes on species adaptation and evolution. By understanding the role of geography and climate, Antonelli aims to build a holistic understanding of the history of life and protect it from the effects of climate change.
Importance of the Amazon Rainforest and Atlantic Forest
Antonelli highlights the significance of the Amazon rainforest and the Atlantic forest in Brazil. He explains that the Amazon is the largest and most diverse tropical rainforest, while the Atlantic forest, though smaller, is also rich in unique species. The Atlantic forest is home to species found nowhere else and has been drastically reduced, with less than 8% remaining. Antonelli emphasizes the need to protect and study the Atlantic forest, given its immense biodiversity and unknown potential.
Conservation and the Fight Against Climate Change
Antonelli emphasizes the importance of addressing biodiversity loss in tandem with climate change. He believes that biodiversity loss is a significant problem, as it impacts food production, emits greenhouse gases, and contributes to pollution. Antonelli proposes tackling biodiversity loss through sustainable food production, as it can simultaneously address climate change. Additionally, he highlights the need to accelerate the description and protection of new species to prevent their extinction, and emphasizes the value of Q Gardens' extensive collection of plant specimens in conservation efforts.
With the world's biodiversity being lost at an alarming rate, Alexandre Antonelli, Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has made it his life's mission to protect it. He is a bio-geographer revealing how changes to the Earth's landscape, such as the formation of mountain ranges and rainforests, leads to the evolution of new species and causes plants, fungi and animals to move around the world.
His work is a masterclass in joined-up thinking, bringing together different fields of research by starting conversations between scientists who would rarely talk to one another. Together, they paint a more holistic picture of how our planet's biodiversity has developed in the hope of informing how we can protect it in the future.
Alex tells presenter Jim Al-Khalili about a life spent in the wild, beginning with his earliest memories of growing up in Brazil cataloguing life in the Atlantic Rainforest. That passion is still with him today. We've only scratched the surface of understanding what lives here on Earth, he says, more than 4,000 new species are found every year. Alex is passionate that we need to speed up the rate at which we document the richness of life, arguing if we don't identify what there is we can't protect it.
Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Tom Bonnett
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