Evolutionary tools improve prospects for sustainablity

Media release
12 September 2014

For immediate release

Evolutionary tools improve prospects for sustainable development

NZ scientist Professor Sir Peter Gluckman is one of nine authors of an international study which calls for evolutionary thinking to address societal challenges in food security, emerging diseases and biodiversity loss.

In a review published online today in Science Express, led by University of California, Davis and the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen, the authors argue that inattention to evolutionary principles will only lead to greater challenges such as short-lived medicines and agricultural treatments, problems that may ultimately hinder sustainable development.

For the first time, scientists have reviewed progress in addressing a broad set of challenges in agriculture, medicine and environmental management using evolutionary approaches, approaches that consider species’ evolutionary histories and the likelihood of rapid evolutionary adaptation to human activities.

The study finds an urgent need for better implementation of these approaches, for example in managing the use of antibiotics and pesticides in order to reduce the escalating problem of the evolution of bacterial resistance. Furthermore, current efforts are found insufficient to reduce the accumulating costs from chronic disease and biodiversity loss, two challenges ultimately caused by exposure to food and environments to which people and threatened wildlife are poorly adapted.

The study also highlights the potential for less commonly implemented strategies including gene therapies to treat human disease and translocating exotic strains for ecological restoration and forestry that will be better adapted to near-future conditions.

Sir Peter Gluckman is Head of the Centre for Human Evolution, Adaptation and Disease at the University of Auckland’s Liggins Institute. He says that escalating human impact on the planet has led to an evolutionary paradox.

“On the one hand some pathogens, cancers and pests are evolving faster than our ability to treat or control them; on the other, valued species – including humans – are evolving too slowly to keep pace with the man-made changes to their environments.”

The rising incidence of obesity, type 2 diabetes and other non-communicable diseases has been attributed to the growing gap between modern diets and lifestyle and those of our evolutionary past. Gluckman says that the most promising approaches to addressing this issue are likely to involve large-scale public health-education initiatives promoting increased activity levels and diets that are lower in refined carbohydrates.

While this will be beneficial across whole populations, he points out that it is particularly important for young people to reduce the evolutionary mismatch before starting their families. “That way, there is a greater chance of influencing the development of the next generation and ultimately reducing the burden of these diseases across the population,” he says.

“Evolutionary biology provides a number of strategies that can be applied to address threats to global health, food security and biodiversity. It is important to take long-term, collaborative approaches across all areas of biology, including biodiversity, food production and human health.”

Applying evolutionary biology to address global challenges is published online today in Science Express. The copyedited version will appear in print in the journal Science and online in November.

ENDS

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