¿Qué tienen en común las flores y los insectos polinizadores de Doñana con la industria textil de Nueva York? La respuesta fácil es que ambas son redes mutualistas, es decir, en que protagonistas distintos se benefician unos de otros (flores e insectos en Doñana; diseñadores y contratistas en Nueva York). Menos fácil es ver qué nodos de estas redes son más importantes y cuáles son más vulnerables. Esto es precisamente lo que ha investigado Jordi Bascompte. Sus resultados, presentados en Nature, indican que, tanto en Doñana como en Nueva York, los nodos que más contribuyen a dar estabilidad a la red (por ejemplo, los insectos que más ayudan a que la red se mantenga) no son los que más se benefician de ella. Al contrario, son los más vulnerables a la extinción. Estos resultados, advierte Bascompte, alertan del impacto negativo que puede tener la aparición de especies invasoras en sistemas ecológicos o de nuevos competidores en sistemas económicos.
Population growth, widespread destruction of natural ecosystems, and climate change may be driving Earth toward an irreversible change in the biosphere. This would constitute a planet-wide tipping point that could have destructive consequences absent adequate preparation and mitigation. Among these consequences, it is expected to foresee a reduction in biodiversity and severe impacts on much of what we depend on to sustain our quality of life including, for example, fisheries, agriculture, forest products and clean water.
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Vasilis Dakos joins Jordi's lab. Vasilis recently finished his PhD at Wageningen University supervised by Marten Scheffer. His work, dealing with the search of early-warning signals for critical transitions has been published in the top scientific journals including Nature and PNAS. While at Jordi's lab, Vasilis will apply these tools to ecological networks as a way to predict the collapse of mutualistic networks and the services they provide. Welcome to Sevilla, Vasilis!
New publication in Nature uncovers evidence of an impending tipping point for the Earth. 06/06/2012
Population growth, widespread destruction of natural ecosystems, and climate change may be driving Earth toward an irreversible change in the biosphere. This would constitute a planet-wide tipping point that could have destructive consequences absent adequate preparation and mitigation. Among these consequences, it is expected to foresee a reduction in biodiversity and severe impacts on much of what we depend on to sustain our quality of life including, for example, fisheries, agriculture, forest products and clean water.This rese...
Vasilis Dakos joins Jordi's lab. 17/05/2012
Vasilis Dakos joins Jordi's lab. Vasilis recently finished his PhD at Wageningen University supervised by Marten Scheffer. His work, dealing with the search of early-warning signals for critical transitions has been published in the top scientific journals including Nature and PNAS. While at Jordi's lab, Vasilis will apply these tools to ecological networks as a way to predict the collapse of mutualistic networks and the services they provide. Welcome to Sevilla, Vasilis!
Population growth, widespread destruction of natural ecosystems, and climate change may be driving Earth toward an irreversible change in the biosphere. This would constitute a planet-wide tipping point that could have destructive consequences absent adequate preparation and mitigation. Among these consequences, it is expected to foresee a reduction in biodiversity and severe impacts on much of what we depend on to sustain our quality of life including, for example, fisheries, agriculture, forest products and clean water.
This research is published in the June 7 issue of the journal Nature devoted to the environment in advance of the June 20-22 United Nations Rio+20 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is co-authored by an international group of 22 scientists from around the world including Jordi.
The paper compares the biological impact of past incidences of global change with processes under way today, and assesses evidence for what the future holds. It also describes an urgent need for better predictive models based on a detailed understanding of how the biosphere has reacted to rapidly changing conditions, including climate and human population growth, in the distant past.
Although many warning signs are emerging, no one knows how close to a global tipping point Earth is, or whether it is inevitable. It is imperative to develop research aimed at identifying early warning signs of a global transition and acceleration of efforts to address the root causes. Currently, to support a population of 7 billion people, about 43 percent of Earth’s surface has been converted to agricultural or urban use, with roads cutting through much of the remainder. Picture courtesy of Cheng (Lily) Li. Barnosky, A.D. et al. (2012). Approaching a state shift in Earth's biosphere. Nature.
http://ieg.ebd.csic.es/JordiBascompte/content/books/Springers/Chapter1.pdf
This research is published in the June 7 issue of the journal Nature devoted to the environment in advance of the June 20-22 United Nations Rio+20 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is co-authored by an international group of 22 scientists from around the world including Jordi.
The paper compares the biological impact of past incidences of global change with processes under way today, and assesses evidence for what the future holds. It also describes an urgent need for better predictive models based on a detailed understanding of how the biosphere has reacted to rapidly changing conditions, including climate and human population growth, in the distant past.
Although many warning signs are emerging, no one knows how close to a global tipping point Earth is, or whether it is inevitable. It is imperative to develop research aimed at identifying early warning signs of a global transition and acceleration of efforts to address the root causes. Currently, to support a population of 7 billion people, about 43 percent of Earth’s surface has been converted to agricultural or urban use, with roads cutting through much of the remainder. Picture courtesy of Cheng (Lily) Li. Barnosky, A.D. et al. (2012). Approaching a state shift in Earth's biosphere. Nature.
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