1
|
De Meester L, Vázquez-Domínguez E, Kassen R, Forest F, Bellon MR, Koskella B, Scherson RA, Colli L, Hendry AP, Crandall KA, Faith DP, Starger CJ, Geeta R, Araki H, Dulloo EM, Souffreau C, Schroer S, Johnson MTJ. A link between evolution and society fostering the UN sustainable development goals. Evol Appl 2024; 17:e13728. [PMID: 38884021 PMCID: PMC11178947 DOI: 10.1111/eva.13728] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2023] [Revised: 05/16/2024] [Accepted: 05/17/2024] [Indexed: 06/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Given the multitude of challenges Earth is facing, sustainability science is of key importance to our continued existence. Evolution is the fundamental biological process underlying the origin of all biodiversity. This phylogenetic diversity fosters the resilience of ecosystems to environmental change, and provides numerous resources to society, and options for the future. Genetic diversity within species is also key to the ability of populations to evolve and adapt to environmental change. Yet, the value of evolutionary processes and the consequences of their impairment have not generally been considered in sustainability research. We argue that biological evolution is important for sustainability and that the concepts, theory, data, and methodological approaches used in evolutionary biology can, in crucial ways, contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We discuss how evolutionary principles are relevant to understanding, maintaining, and improving Nature Contributions to People (NCP) and how they contribute to the SDGs. We highlight specific applications of evolution, evolutionary theory, and evolutionary biology's diverse toolbox, grouped into four major routes through which evolution and evolutionary insights can impact sustainability. We argue that information on both within-species evolutionary potential and among-species phylogenetic diversity is necessary to predict population, community, and ecosystem responses to global change and to make informed decisions on sustainable production, health, and well-being. We provide examples of how evolutionary insights and the tools developed by evolutionary biology can not only inspire and enhance progress on the trajectory to sustainability, but also highlight some obstacles that hitherto seem to have impeded an efficient uptake of evolutionary insights in sustainability research and actions to sustain SDGs. We call for enhanced collaboration between sustainability science and evolutionary biology to understand how integrating these disciplines can help achieve the sustainable future envisioned by the UN SDGs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Luc De Meester
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) Berlin Germany
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation KU Leuven Leuven Belgium
- Institute of Biology Freie University Berlin Berlin Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany
| | - Ella Vázquez-Domínguez
- Departamento de Ecología de la Biodiversidad, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Ciudad Universitaria Ciudad de México Mexico
- Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics Group Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC) Sevilla Spain
| | - Rees Kassen
- Department of Biology McGill University Montreal Quebec Canada
| | | | - Mauricio R Bellon
- Comisión Nacional Para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO) México City Mexico
- Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems Arizona State University Tempe Arizona USA
| | - Britt Koskella
- Department of Integrative Biology University of California Berkeley California USA
| | - Rosa A Scherson
- Laboratorio Evolución y Sistemática, Departamento de Silvicultura y Conservación de la Naturaleza Universidad de Chile Santiago Chile
| | - Licia Colli
- Dipartimento di Scienze Animali, Della Nutrizione e Degli Alimenti, BioDNA Centro di Ricerca Sulla Biodiversità e Sul DNA Antico, Facoltà di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Piacenza Italy
| | - Andrew P Hendry
- Redpath Museum & Department of Biology McGill University Montreal Quebec Canada
| | - Keith A Crandall
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics George Washington University Washington DC USA
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology, US National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution Washington DC USA
| | | | - Craig J Starger
- School of Global Environmental Sustainability Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - R Geeta
- Department of Botany University of Delhi New Delhi India
| | - Hitoshi Araki
- Research Faculty of Agriculture Hokkaido University Sapporo Japan
| | - Ehsan M Dulloo
- Effective Genetic Resources Conservation and Use Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT Rome Italy
| | - Caroline Souffreau
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation KU Leuven Leuven Belgium
| | - Sibylle Schroer
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) Berlin Germany
| | - Marc T J Johnson
- Department of Biology & Centre for Urban Environments University of Toronto Mississauga Mississauga Ontario Canada
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Garcia-Caparros P, Al-Azzawi MJ, Flowers TJ. Economic Uses of Salt-Tolerant Plants. PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 12:2669. [PMID: 37514283 PMCID: PMC10385539 DOI: 10.3390/plants12142669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2023] [Revised: 07/09/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023]
Abstract
Climate change is likely to affect the ability of world agricultural systems to provide food, fibre, and fuel for the growing world population, especially since the area of salinised land will increase. However, as few species of plants (less than 1% of all plant species) can tolerate saline soils, we believe it is important to evaluate their potential as crops for salinised soils. We have analysed the economic and potential economic uses of plants that are listed in the database eHALOPH, including the most tolerant species, halophytes. For nine main categories of economic value, we found a total of 1365 uses amongst all species listed in eHALOPH as of July 2022; this number reduced to 918 amongst halophytes. We did not find any obvious differences in rankings between the more tolerant halophytes and the whole group of salt-tolerant plants, where the order of use was medical, followed by forage, traditional medicine, food and drink, fuel, fuelwood, and bioenergy. While many species are potentially important as crops, the effects of salt concentration on their uses are much less well documented. Increasing salt concentration can increase, decrease, or have no effect on the concentration of antioxidants found in different species, but there is little evidence on the effect of salinity on potential yield (the product of concentration and biomass). The effect of salinity on forage quality again varies with species, often being reduced, but the overall consequences for livestock production have rarely been evaluated. Salt-tolerant plants have potential uses in the bioremediation of degraded land (including revegetation, phytoremediation, and extraction of NaCl) as well as sources of biofuels, although any use of saline water for the sustainable irrigation of salt-tolerant crops must be viewed with extreme caution.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Garcia-Caparros
- Department of Superior School Engineering, University of Almería, Ctra. Sacramento s/n, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120 Almería, Spain
| | | | - Timothy J Flowers
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Hassoun A, Bekhit AED, Jambrak AR, Regenstein JM, Chemat F, Morton JD, Gudjónsdóttir M, Carpena M, Prieto MA, Varela P, Arshad RN, Aadil RM, Bhat Z, Ueland Ø. The fourth industrial revolution in the food industry-part II: Emerging food trends. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2022; 64:407-437. [PMID: 35930319 DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2022.2106472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The food industry has recently been under unprecedented pressure due to major global challenges, such as climate change, exponential increase in world population and urbanization, and the worldwide spread of new diseases and pandemics, such as the COVID-19. The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) has been gaining momentum since 2015 and has revolutionized the way in which food is produced, transported, stored, perceived, and consumed worldwide, leading to the emergence of new food trends. After reviewing Industry 4.0 technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence, smart sensors, robotics, blockchain, and the Internet of Things) in Part I of this work (Hassoun, Aït-Kaddour, et al. 2022. The fourth industrial revolution in the food industry-Part I: Industry 4.0 technologies. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 1-17.), this complimentary review will focus on emerging food trends (such as fortified and functional foods, additive manufacturing technologies, cultured meat, precision fermentation, and personalized food) and their connection with Industry 4.0 innovations. Implementation of new food trends has been associated with recent advances in Industry 4.0 technologies, enabling a range of new possibilities. The results show several positive food trends that reflect increased awareness of food chain actors of the food-related health and environmental impacts of food systems. Emergence of other food trends and higher consumer interest and engagement in the transition toward sustainable food development and innovative green strategies are expected in the future.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Abdo Hassoun
- Sustainable AgriFoodtech Innovation & Research (SAFIR), Arras, France
- Syrian AcademicExpertise (SAE), Gaziantep, Turkey
| | | | - Anet Režek Jambrak
- Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Joe M Regenstein
- Department of Food Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Farid Chemat
- Green Extraction Team, INRAE, Avignon University, Avignon, France
| | - James D Morton
- Department of Wine Food and Molecular Biosciences, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand
| | - María Gudjónsdóttir
- Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
| | - María Carpena
- Department of Analytical Chemistry and Food Science, Faculty of Science, Universidade de Vigo, Nutrition and Bromatology Group, Ourense, Spain
| | - Miguel A Prieto
- Department of Analytical Chemistry and Food Science, Faculty of Science, Universidade de Vigo, Nutrition and Bromatology Group, Ourense, Spain
| | - Paula Varela
- Fisheries and Aquaculture Research, Nofima - Norwegian Institute of Food, Ås, Norway
| | - Rai Naveed Arshad
- Institute of High Voltage & High Current, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
| | - Rana Muhammad Aadil
- National Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
| | - Zuhaib Bhat
- Division of Livestock Products Technology, SKUAST-J, Jammu, India
| | - Øydis Ueland
- Fisheries and Aquaculture Research, Nofima - Norwegian Institute of Food, Ås, Norway
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
A Comparative Photographic Review on Higher Plants and Macro-Fungi: A Soil Restoration for Sustainable Production of Food and Energy. SUSTAINABILITY 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/su14127104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The Kingdom of Plantae is considered the main source of human food, and includes several edible and medicinal plants, whereas mushrooms belong to the Kingdom of fungi. There are a lot of similar characteristics between mushrooms and higher plants, but there are also many differences among them, especially from the human health point of view. The absences of both chlorophyll content and the ability to form their own food are the main differences between mushrooms and higher plants. The main similar attributes found in both mushrooms and higher plants are represented in their nutritional and medicinal activities. The findings of this review have a number of practical implications. A lot of applications in different fields could be found also for both mushrooms and higher plants, especially in the bioenergy, biorefinery, soil restoration, and pharmaceutical fields, but this study is the first report on a comparative photographic review between them. An implication of the most important findings in this review is that both mushrooms and plants should be taken into account when integrated food and energy are needed. These findings will be of broad use to the scientific and biomedical communities. Further investigation and experimentation into the integration and production of food crops and mushrooms are strongly recommended under different environmental conditions, particularly climate change.
Collapse
|
5
|
Green AG, Abdulai AR, Duncan E, Glaros A, Campbell M, Newell R, Quarshie P, KC KB, Newman L, Nost E, Fraser EDG. A scoping review of the digital agricultural revolution and ecosystem services: implications for Canadian policy and research agendas. Facets (Ott) 2021. [DOI: 10.1139/facets-2021-0017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The application of technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain, cellular agriculture, and big data analytics to food systems has been described as a digital agricultural revolution with the potential to increase food security and reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint. Yet, the scientific evidence informing how these technologies may impact or enhance ecosystem services has not been comprehensively reviewed. In this scoping review, we examine how digital agricultural technologies may enhance agriculture’s support of ecosystem services. Keyword searches in academic databases resulted in 2337 records, of which 74 records met review criteria and were coded. We identify three clusters of digital agricultural technologies including those that make farm management more precise, increase connectivity, and create novel foods. We then examine modelling and empirical evidence gaps in research linking these technologies to ecosystem services. Finally, we overview barriers to implementing digital agricultural technologies for better ecosystem services management in the Canadian context including economic and political systems; lack of policies on data management, governance, and cybersecurity; and limited training and human resources that prevents producers from fully utilizing these technologies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Arthur G. Green
- Department of Geography, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, Okanagan College, 1000 K.L.O Rd., Kelowna, BC V1Y 4X8, Canada
| | - Abdul-Rahim Abdulai
- Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Emily Duncan
- Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Alesandros Glaros
- Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Malcolm Campbell
- Office of the Vice-President, University of Guelph, University Centre Room 416, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Rob Newell
- Food and Agriculture Institute, University of the Fraser Valley, 33844 King Road, Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8, Canada
| | - Philip Quarshie
- Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Krishna Bahadur KC
- Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Lenore Newman
- Food and Agriculture Institute, University of the Fraser Valley, 33844 King Road, Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8, Canada
| | - Eric Nost
- Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Evan D. G. Fraser
- Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| |
Collapse
|