Professor of Evolutionary Systems Biology and Environmental Omics
School of Biosciences and Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Science and AI
Deputy Director of CERJ, the Centre for Environmental Research and Justice
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom
Alan Turing Fellow, Alan Turing Institute for data science and artificial intelligence, UK
Guest Professor at Robust Nature, Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany
Founder and CEO of Daphne Water Solutions Limited (www.dwsol.co.uk)
Founder and CTO of EnviSion BioSequencing and BioComputing
Interview for the New York TimesA Living Time Capsule Shows the Human Mark on Evolution
Carl Zimmer JAN. 8, 2014
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A Growth Spurt at 1,500 Years Old
Carl Zimmer MARCH. 17, 2014
Producer: Paul Bradshaw BBC2
Plankton: The source of life
Paul Bradshaw, series producer
One crucial element that was vital to understanding the Okavango story was the emergence of fresh water plankton. When the water touches their eggs in the sand, within a couple of days, the creatures inside wake up from suspended animation and the eggs burst, releasing these vital creatures, that are central to the Okavango’s food-chain. Although this is something that occurs in wetlands all over the world, the microscopic moment of hatching is impossible to see in the wild and has only ever been witnessed in the lab, and barely filmed. So it was certainly impossible to conceive of doing it on location in the Kalahari.
However, this emergence is a process that happens to be the subject of a study by Dr Luisa Orsini and her group at the University of Birmingham. They were also keen to film it, with the help of the latest high resolution video-capable microscopes. As a result, we were able to show, probably for the first time on TV, an essential process for life, one without which, the Delta simply could not be the haven that it is.
Site Title
Some phytoplankton species form cysts that have been shown to lie dormant for up to a century. The researchers used DNA microsatellite analysis to identify two subpopulations, which alternated in frequency during the 84-year record. One was common in older sediments but became relatively rare between 1960 and 1985, and is currently experiencing a population revival.These fluctuations correlate with cyclical changes in the ocean environment in Koljö Fjord
Luisa Orsini of the University of Birmingham in the U.K. says that laboratory experiments may be required to confirm that there is a causal relationship between environmental changes due to the NAO and changes in dinoflagellate subpopulations. “Other environmental variables may drive changes in dinoflagellate subpopulations,” she says.
Replicating the dinoflagellate study in other species and in different regions of the globe will add to researchers’ understanding of how climate influences biodiversity. But there is only so much scientists can learn from single-species approaches. “The next step would be to go higher in complexity and study how communities evolve through time,” says Orsini.
Invited interview for Slightly Evolved, a weekly science podcast for science outreach
An interview that brings the evolutioanry time machine to the public
Adapt, move or die: animals and plants react to climate change - study
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..........a media coverage of our most recent review article in TREE
Nature is on the move as plants and animals react to the threat of extinction from climate change by changing their location or behaviour – a critical review reveals.
Scientists at the University of Birmingham are working with archives of living fossils to help understand how current species will react to an ever-warming planet. The study of these archives, combined with predictive modelling will allow us to forecast changes in biodiversity due to future climate change.
Their work is showcases as part of a major international effort to review current trends in biodiversity response to climatic change, led by experts at the University of Copenhagen’s Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, and published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution.
Co-author Dr Luisa Orsini, Senior Lecturer in Biosystems and Climate Change at the University of Birmingham, said: “Archives of living fossils are the key to understanding how species will react to future global change. Interrogating revived dormant stages of species that adapted to climatic change, we are able to predict the fate of species facing climatic changes.
“The speed and severity of change exacerbated by human activities may surpass those of the previous several million years leading many species to extinction. A clear understanding of the fate of species is critical to preserve biodiversity."
The study reviews current knowledge on climate change and how nature is reacting to climate change. Altered behaviour and movement can already be seen among plants and animals; flowers change flowering time and owls get darker body colour due to warmer winters.
Lead-author Professor David Nogués-Bravo from the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen, commented: “Our research group has worked through an enormous amount of studies about biodiversity’s reaction to climate change. We focused on events in the last past million years we know influenced biodiversity.
“It turns out that species actually have been able to survive new conditions in their habitat by changing either behaviour or body shape. However, the current and future magnitude and unseen speed of change in nature may push species beyond their ability to adapt.”
Scientists know species react by adapting locally or move, to survive when conditions in their habitat changes. Some species, when failed to adapt or move fast enough, like the Orange-spotted filefish, have already gone extinct. Global warming can also have an indirect impact on a species by increasing its susceptibility to bacterial infection.
However, the review highlights migration to new habitats is not the predominant reaction to climatic changes. It shows that local adaptation in response to change in the environment have played a key role in species survival. But how far can local adaptation ensure species survival when humans change the environment so drastically and so rapidly?
The study helps us decode how biodiversity changes under climate change and may provide a platform for policy-makers to design effective conservation schemes in the future.
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For more information, please contact:
Tony Moran, International Communications Manager, University of Birmingham on +44 (0) 121 414 8254 or +44 (0)782 783 2312 or . For out-of-hours enquiries, please call +44 (0) 7789 921 165.
Lotte Nymark Busch Jensen, Press Officer, Centre for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen on (+45) 21 17 91 40 or (+45) 35 32 27 59
Notes for editors
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The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions, its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 6,500 international students from over 150 countries.
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‘Cracking the code of biodiversity responses to past climate change’ - David Nogués-Bravo, Francisco Rodríguez-Sánchez, Luisa Orsini, Erik de Boer, Roland Jansson, Helene Morlon, Damien Fordham, & Stephen Jackson is published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2018.07.005. Please feel free to include a link to the paper in any online news article.
World Water Day 2019
Media interview in occasion of the World Water Day-Water for all organized by the Birmingham Water Council https://youtu.be/A9gnFOGCSQ4
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​Two million people worldwide have no access to clean water. In low-income economies, inadequately managed water exposes individuals, especially children, to preventable health risks and deaths. In developed countries, water is contaminated by emerging pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products, which threaten environmental and human health.
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