Scientists advocate for integration of biogeography and behavioral
ecology to rapidly respond to biodiversity loss

Date:
April 10, 2023
Source:
University of Oklahoma
Summary:
An interdisciplinary team of researchers is advocating for
convergent research that integrates the fields of biogeography and
behavioral ecology to more rapidly respond to challenges associated
with climate change and biodiversity loss.


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FULL STORY ==========================================================================
An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Oklahoma has published a perspective article in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences advocating for convergent research that integrates
the fields of biogeography and behavioral ecology to more rapidly respond
to challenges associated with climate change and biodiversity loss.


========================================================================== While news about climate change fills headlines, the crisis of
biodiversity loss has gotten less attention. In their article, the
authors contend that "identifying solutions that prevent large-scale
extinction requires addressing critical questions about biodiversity
dynamics that - despite widespread interest - have been challenging to
answer thus far." From microorganisms that support soil health, fish that
we eat, forests that clean water, to pollination, lumber and medicine, protecting ecosystems and the variety of plants and animals within them
is vital to the health of the planet and for humanity to thrive.

"The ways that we respond to climate change also have a big impact on
outcomes for biodiversity - which is also a critical part of how the
global climate system works," said article co-author Katharine Marske,
Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biology, Dodge Family
College of Arts and Sciences.

"Climate change is a major threat to biodiversity, but it's not the only threat. We also have habitat loss and degradation, direct overharvest of
some species and so forth, so it's also its own unique crisis that needs
to be considered on equal footing." "Historically in Oklahoma, we can
point to cases where we have rapidly removed or changed natural habitats,
such as the Dust Bowl," said co-author Hayler Lanier, Ph.D., assistant
curator of mammalogy at the Sam Noble Museum and an assistant professor
of biology. "That was a case where we came through and stripped out a lot
of the existing natural systems that do things to hold onto the soil and
create nutrients, and that was sort of one small example. As we move into
the future, we need to think about what sort of world we want to live in,
and it is definitely one where we have these sorts of ecosystem services."
By integrating the fields of biogeography, or the study of how and why biological diversity varies across the Earth, with behavioral ecology,
or the study of the evolution of behavior in relation to ecological
pressures, the authors argue that scientists will be better able to
develop a more comprehensive understanding of how to leverage "existing biodiversity knowledge into predictive frameworks for how biodiversity
will respond to environmental change, and where habitat conservation can
be most effective." "This interdisciplinary connection between behavioral ecologists and scientists who study biogeography has not been linked well
to date," said Laura Stein, Ph.D., article co-author and an assistant
professor of biology. "I think in many cases, biogeographers are not
thinking about day-to-day activities of animals as much as behavioral ecologists are, and behavioral ecologists are not necessarily considering differences and overlaps in both current and historical ranges and how behaviors have been shaped by past geographic events that might help
predict where they will be in the future. And so, by combining these two fields, we can get a much broader picture of what we can do now and what
is important for protecting biodiversity into the future." The article's authors have led a pilot of such integrative efforts at the University
of Oklahoma, supported by funding from the National Science Foundation.

Co-author Cameron Siler, Ph.D., associate professor of biology and
associate curator of herpetology at the Sam Noble Museum, said "We,
in the Department of Biology, together with the Sam Noble Museum,
carried out a series of cluster hires over the last five years aimed strategically at bringing together integrative researchers with the
capacity to think beyond these typically isolated fields, and what's
exciting is this work is a culmination of the success of that early
effort to bring scientists like this together at OU." Lanier described
their work as hopeful. Biodiversity loss and climate change are large,
complex and challenging problems to solve. "What we're trying to do is
to harness a lot of information that we already have as scientific and conservation communities and bring it together in new ways to very quickly answer some of these questions." Agreeing, Marske added, "The scope
of the challenges that society faces require integration, so providing opportunities for this across biology, and amongst all disciplines,
increases your chances to bring people together and talk about novel
solutions. The more people you can have at that table, the better."
* RELATED_TOPICS
o Plants_&_Animals
# Ecology_Research # Nature # Endangered_Animals #
Extinction
o Earth_&_Climate
# Ecology # Biodiversity # Environmental_Awareness #
Environmental_Issues
* RELATED_TERMS
o Global_warming_controversy o
Unified_neutral_theory_of_biodiversity o
Deforestation o Kyoto_Protocol o Global_climate_model
o Consensus_of_scientists_regarding_global_warming o
Climate_change_mitigation o Attribution_of_recent_climate_change

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Oklahoma. Original
written by Chelsea Julian. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Katharine A. Marske, Hayley C. Lanier, Cameron D. Siler, Ashlee
H. Rowe,
Laura R. Stein. Integrating biogeography and behavioral ecology
to rapidly address biodiversity loss. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 2023; 120 (15) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2110866120 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230410123644.htm

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