Cutting Edge Symposium Resilience in the Anthropocene

Predicting and improving the capacity of our living systems to adapt and thrive in a changing world.

How will our biological systems cope with the climate-related changes that are anticipated in the next 30 years? How do we know where to intervene? What interventions will be most effective to support species / systems to thrive under new conditions?

Following recent trends, living systems will continue to face unprecedented pressures from climate change related stressors, compounded by effects of invasive species, urbanization, land use change, and pollution. The health, distribution, and ecosystem function of many of the organisms we interact with will change, across crops and pollinators, fishery and aquaculture species, biodiversity conservation, and those used in forestry and urban landscaping. Accurately predicting the resilience of these systems will help efforts to improve the resilience of these organisms and the well-being of humans in the Anthropocene.

The challenge posed to these biological systems is too large, and too urgent, to attack in a piece meal approach using traditional domains (e.g., health and biosecurity, agriculture, environment) or disciplines (breeding/husbandry, ecology, modern genetics, restoration). We need a multidisciplinary effort to solve the science challenge of adaptation to unprecedented environmental change in the Anthropocene. This symposium is a first step towards this goal. The symposium will bring researchers who work on different aspects of adaptation of living systems, including those who take a genetic, physiological, or ecological approach to address the challenges facing our conservation, fisheries, forestry, and agricultural sectors. This will allow us to learn from each other, share best practice and avoid duplication of effort, as meeting the challenge posed by our changing environment will require us to get to the “steep part of the learning curve” rapidly. The symposium will allow for the formation of a network of researchers who are working to ensure that we will still be able to interact with the species we depend on in the coming 50 years.