Breadcrumb

Species adaptation to environmental change: the need to integrate genetic diversity into monitoring, spatial planning, and restoration.

Session 25

Introduction to the session

The biodiversity crisis has fundamental consequences for our soceity, affecting species survival, and ecosystem services, eg,  pollination of crops in agricultural landscapes, production of fish in coastal regions, and carbon sequestration of forests. While conservation efforts have historically focused on species richness and short term effects, recent advances underscore the critical role of evolutionary processes in shaping biodiversity resilience and function. In agricultural systems, rapid evolutionary changes, such as, the evolution of pesticide resistance, are well-documented. In marine systems, rapid adaptation to environmental changes are documented in mollusc and fish species. These evolutionary dimensions remain largely overlooked in both conservation.

This session bridges mechanisms of species evolvability and the intricate interactions between ecological and evolutionary processes, highlighting tools that can be used to assess the evolutionary potential of populations. We aim to bring management and science closer together by ways of presentations from various systems, and panel debate involving stakeholders. 

Session programme

15:30: Monitoring genetic diversity over contemporary time with new DNA- and proxy-based indicators  
Linda Laikre 

15:40: Landscape driven isolation and inbreeding in specialist grassland butterflies
Zachary J. Nolen
Isolde van Riemsdijk
Patrycja Jamelska
Ana Sofía Torres Lar
Maj Rundlöf
Niklas Wahlberg
Anna Runemark 

15:50: Evolutionary plant–pollinator responses to anthropogenic land-use change: impacts on ecosystem services  
Mikael Pontarp
A Runemark
M Friberg
Ø. H. Opedal
A. S. Persson
L. Wang
H. G. Smith 

16:00: Short leg-stretcher 

16:10: Drifting Furcellaria lumbricalis is genetically distinct compared to attached conspecifics – implications for seagrass conservation 
Johan Severinson
Marlene Jahnke
Per Moksnes 

16:20: The genomics behind rapid adaptation to low salinity in Pacific oysters along an invasion front 
Alexandra Kinnby
Chloé Robert
Jonathan N Havenhand
Göran Broström
Luc Bussière
Pierre De Wit 

16:30: PlantEra, adaptations to the past investigated in the present  
S. Francois du Toit
Anna M. Jensen
Vivi Vajda
Allan G. Rasmusson 

16:40: Panel discussion with all presenters 
Conveners: Kerstin Johannesson and Henrik Smith 

Further information about the session

Keywords: Genetic biodiversity, Evolutionary processes, Ecosystem function, Aquatic, Terrestrial  
Language: English
Time and venue: 15:30-17:00, Wallenbergsalen
Organisers:

  • Linda Laikre, Stockholm University
  • Kerstin Johannesson, University of Gothenburg
  • Pierre De Wit, University of Gothenburg
  • Mikael Pontarp Lund University 
  • Henrik Smith, Lund University

Strategy for transformative change in focus for the session

IPBES highlights 5 complementary key strategies for transformative change: From conserving vital places to shifting values. Together these create pathways to just and sustainable futures. Learn more: IPBES Transformative Change Assessment: Chapter 5. Realizing a sustainable world for nature and people: transformative strategies, actions and roles for all

As indicated in the illustration below, session 25 focuses mainly on the strategies

2: Drive systemic change in the sectors most responsible for nature’s decline
5: Shift views and values to recognize human-nature interconnectedness