Re-launch of ISC-GeoUnions Distinguished Lecture Series in support of the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development

10 September 2024, view event page

The world ocean covers 71% of the surface of the planet and, with about 4000 m of average depth, its volume represents more than 90% of the life-inhabited space. Land-based life, furthermore, depends on ocean-based water cycles, coupling atmospheric with oceanic dynamics. The great ocean conveyor connects all oceans in a single grand system, triggered by ice formation at the poles, where oceanic deep waters are generated, bringing oxygen in the dark deep sea. The shape of the coasts and of the sea bottom define coherent spaces where ecosystem processes take place: the cells of ecosystem functioning are natural units of management and conservation characterized by high internal connectivity among the living components through three types of fluxes. Ecosystem functions are usually studied by distinct disciplines focusing on biogeochemistry (extraspecific fluxes of non living matter that flow “outside” species), life cycles (intraspecific fluxes of living matter that flow “inside” species through a sequence of generations), and trophic networks (interspecific fluxes of living matter that flow from species to species). The three fluxes determine ecosystem functioning and must be framed both spatially and temporally, so as to manage our activities according to a knowledge-based ecosystem approach towards sustainability. As terrestrial animals we are used to define ecosystems by the vegetation, but this is not possible in the ocean: the sea bottom is just a portion of the oceanic domain and most of the “environment” is represented by the water column, where large plants are absent. Furthermore, the greatest majority of the oceanic space is in the dark, and is dominated by animals and microbes; oxygen reaches the deep through downwelling currents and by the recently discovered dark oxygen production. The bulk of oceanic primary production derives from the metabolism of photosynthetic microbes (the phytoplankton) that are invisible to us. They are the food for herbivores that can be either benthic or planktonic (the herbivorous zooplankton, mostly composed of small crustaceans) that, in their turn, are the food for tertiary producers, including the planktonic larvae and juveniles of fish which grow up and, as adults, start to eat each other and to be the major food source for higher trophic levels, from sharks to marine birds and mammals. In the dark there are no primary producers and trophic networks are based on a continuous flow of detritus (marine snow) that sustains detritus feeders and the carnivores that feed on them. These aspects are mostly studied by reductionistic approaches that reduce the complexity of ecosystems and that must be assembled into a single, holistic vision. The ecological transition processes that determine the functioning of ecosystems and will plan our activities while taking care of not compromising the health of the living planet.

Professor Ferdinando Boero
University Federico II, Napoli

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12 November 2024, view event page

The microbiome contributes to ecosystem sustainability and human health through complex interactions between the physical environment and other organisms dwelling in that environment. Given the enormous diversity and functions performed by ecosystem microbiomes, in this presentation, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) will be used as an example to explore microbial connectivity across entire ecosystems. It is found that both urban wastewater treatment plants and intensive animal farms are major sources of AMR pollution in the environment. Once anthropogenic AMR enters the environment, it can be spread through mass microbial movement within the ecosystem and transported through various pathways at regional and even global scales.

The application of single-cell methodologies for in situ analysis of AMR will be highlighted, specifically targeting the “distribution-diffusion-development” (3D) process of active antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB). Targeted single-cell sorting and metagenomics make it possible to pinpoint “who is doing what and how” in the most active ARB, and to track the physiological evolution of resistance and analyze the underlying genetic mechanisms. In summary, AMR within the ecosystem can be cycled between humans, animals, plants and the environment, and the One Health framework in assessing microbial cycling should be adopted.

Professor Yongguan ZHU is an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Fellow of TWAS (The World Academy of Sciences), Fellow of the International Science Council (ISC), and is the Director General of the Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, CAS. He has been working on environmental health and well-being issues related to pollution, soil biodiversity and microbial ecology. He was a scientific committee member for ISC program on Human Health and Wellbeing in Changing Urban Environment, and is a member of the Committee of Science Planning of ISC. He served for nine years as a member of the Standing Advisory Group for Nuclear Application, International Atomic Energy Agency (2004-2012). He has received numerous merit awards, including TWAS Award for Agricultural Science 2013, National Natural Science Award 2009 & 2023, International Union of Soil Science von Liebig Award 2022. He publishes widely in international journals with an H-index of 126 (Web of Science), and has been selected as a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher (2016-2024).

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13 May 2025, view event page

Prof William Moseley’s new book analyzes the history of food security and agricultural development initiatives in post- colonial Africa and outlines a vision for future prosperity. The book’s main argument has three parts. First, development organizations and governments will only begin to seriously address food insecurity (SDG2) in Africa when they more fully question the assertion that a narrow focus on production agriculture is the solution, an idea that is central to crop science or agronomy. Second, agricultural development must be seen as more than the first step in an industrial development process, but as a sustainable livelihood that has value in and of itself. Third, an agroecological approach, combined with good governance, will allow people to have greater control over their food systems, produce healthy food more sustainably, and enhance access to food by the poorest of the poor. Following a broad conceptual introduction emphasizing political agronomy and political ecology, Moseley reviews past food security and agricultural development experiences in four countries where he has undertaken research: Mali, Burkina Faso, South Africa and Botswana. He then examines successful efforts in each of the aforementioned countries and outlines future directions that emphasize agroecology, or the application of ecological principles to agricultural systems. He concludes with some ideas about institutions at the national, regional and international levels. To build more resilient food systems and a different kind of development, new institutions will need to emerge that support agroecology and vibrant rurality.

Professor William G. Moseley is a human-environment and development geographer teaching courses on: introductory human geography; people, agriculture and the environment; Africa; development and underdevelopment; and a senior seminar on environment and development studies. In most his courses he tries to accomplish at least three goals: 1) to hone students’ skills as critical thinkers via reading, discussion and writing; 2) to foster geographic thinking and analysis through careful examination of spatial patterns of human processes, human-environment interactions, and connections between places and regions; and 3) to stimulate greater interest in understanding the world geographically. He is particularly concerned that his students be exposed to a variety of view points on any given issue, that they learn to analyze and deconstruct these view points, and that they go on to engage key questions and construct compelling arguments of their own.

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