How to repair a damaged heart: Key mechanism behind heart regeneration in zebrafish revealed

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HUBRECHT INSTITUTE

 

IMAGE: ZEBRAFISH HEART 60 DAYS AFTER INJURY SHOWING THE STRUCTURE OF THE HEART MUSCLE CELLS HAVE COMPLETELY REGENERATED. view more 

CREDIT: CREDIT: PHONG NGUYEN, COPYRIGHT HUBRECHT INSTITUTE.

Cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks, are a leading cause of death worldwide resulting from a limited self-healing power of the heart. Unlike humans, zebrafish have the remarkable capacity to recover from cardiac damage. Researchers from the group of Jeroen Bakkers (Hubrecht Institute) have used the zebrafish to shed light on their regenerative success. They discovered a new mechanism that functions as a switch to push the heart muscle cells to mature in the regeneration process. Importantly, this mechanism was evolutionary conserved as it had a very similar effect on mouse and human heart muscle cells. The results of the study, published in Science on May 18th, show that examining the natural heart regeneration process in zebrafish and applying these discoveries to human heart muscle cells could contribute to the development of new therapies against cardiovascular diseases.

 

It is estimated that 18 million people die from cardiovascular diseases every year. Many of these deaths are related to heart attacks. In such an event, a blood clot prevents the supply of nutrients and oxygen to parts of the heart. As a result, the heart muscle cells in the obstructed part of the heart die, which eventually leads to heart failure. Although therapies exist that manage the symptoms, there is no treatment that is able to replace the lost tissue with functional, mature heart muscle cells and thereby cure the patients.

 

Zebrafish as a role model

Unlike humans, some species like zebrafish can regenerate their hearts. Within 90 days after damage, they fully restore their cardiac function. The surviving heart muscle cells are able to divide and produce more cells. This unique feature provides zebrafish hearts with a source of new tissue to replace the lost heart muscle cells. Previous studies successfully identified factors that could stimulate heart muscle cells to divide. Nevertheless, what happens to the newly formed heart muscle cells afterwards had not been studied before. Phong Nguyen, first author of the study, explains: “It is unclear how these cells stop dividing and mature enough so that can they contribute to normal heart function. We were puzzled by the fact that in zebrafish hearts, the newly formed tissue naturally matured and integrated into the existing heart tissue without any problems.”.

 

LRRC10 drives maturation

To study maturation of the newly formed tissue in detail, the researchers developed a technique for which thick slices of injured zebrafish hearts were cultured outside the body. This allowed them to perform live imaging on the movement of calcium in heart muscle cells. The regulation of calcium moving in and out of heart muscle cells is important for controlling heart contractions and can predict the maturity of the cell. They found that after the heart muscle cells divide, calcium movements changed over time. “The calcium movement in the newly divided cell was initially very similar to embryonic heart muscle cells, but over time the heart muscle cells assumed a mature type of calcium movement. We found that the cardiac dyad, a structure that helped to move calcium within the heart muscle cell, and specifically one of its components, LRRC10, was crucial in deciding whether heart muscle cells divide or progress through maturation. Heart muscle cells that lack LRRC10 continued to divide and remained immature,” says Nguyen. 

 

From fish to human

After Nguyen and his colleagues established the importance of LRRC10 in stopping cell division and initiating maturation of zebrafish heart muscle cells, they moved on to test if their findings could be translated to mammals. To this end, they induced the expression of LRRC10 in mouse and lab-grown human heart muscle cells. Strikingly, LRRC10 changed the calcium handling, reduced cell division and increased the maturation of these cells in a similar manner as observed in zebrafish hearts. Nguyen: “It was exciting to see that the lessons learned from the zebrafish were translatable as this opens new possibilities for the use of LRRC10 in the context of new therapies for patients”.

 

Clinical impact

The results of the study, published in Science, show that LRRC10 has the potential to drive the maturation of heart muscle cells further through the control of their calcium handling. This could help scientists who are trying to solve the lack of regenerative capacity of the mammalian heart by transplanting lab-grown heart muscle cells into the damaged heart. Although this potential therapy is promising, results showed that these lab-grown cells are still immature and cannot communicate properly with the rest of the heart, leading to abnormal contractions called arrhythmias. “Although more research is needed to precisely define how mature these lab-grown heart muscle cells are when treated with LRRC10, it is possible that the increase in maturation will improve their integration after transplantation,” says Jeroen Bakkers, last author of the study. Bakkers continues: “Additionally, current models for cardiac diseases are frequently based on immature lab-grown heart muscle cells. 90% of promising drug candidates found in the lab fail to make it to the clinic and the immaturity of these cells could be one contributing factor for this low success rate. Our results indicate LRRC10 could improve the relevance of these models as well”. LRRC10 could thus have an important contribution to generate lab-grown heart muscle cells that more accurately represent a typical adult human heart, therefore improving the chances of developing successful new treatments against cardiovascular diseases.

 

Publication

Interplay between calcium and sarcomeres directs cardiomyocyte maturation during regeneration. Phong D. Nguyen*, Iris Gooijers†, Giulia Campostrini†, Arie O. Verkerk, Hessel Honkoop, Mara Bouwman, Dennis E. M. de Bakker, Tim Koopmans, Aryan Vink, Gerda E. M. Lamers, Avraham Shakked, Jonas Mars, Aat A. Mulder, Sonja Chocron, Kerstin Bartscherer, Eldad Tzahor, Christine L. Mummery, Teun P. de Boer, Milena Bellin, Jeroen Bakkers*. Science, 2023.

 

The study is the result of a collaboration between the Hubrecht Institute, LUMC, AMC, UMC Utrecht and Weizmann Institute. The study was financed with the help of the Dutch Heart Foundation, Dutch CardioVascular Alliance and Stichting Hartekind.

 

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Jeroen Bakkers is group leader at the Hubrecht Institute and professor of Molecular Cardiogenetics at the UMC Utrecht

 

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About the Hubrecht Institute 

The Hubrecht Institute is a research institute focused on developmental and stem cell biology. Because of the dynamic character of the research, the institute as a variable number of research group, around 20, that do fundamental, multidisciplinary research on healthy and diseased cells, tissues and organisms. The Hubrecht Institute is a research institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), situated on Utrecht Science Park. Since 2008, the institute is affiliated with the UMC Utrecht, advancing the translation of research to the clinic. The Hubrecht Institute has a partnership with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). For more information, visit www.hubrecht.eu. 

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JOURNAL

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.abo6718 

African Killifish could hold secrets to reversing muscle ageing

New research in the African killifish reveals that towards the end of life, our muscles actually reverse to an “early-life” state, clues to preventing muscle wasting

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MONASH UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: A JUST-HATCHED KILLIFISH LARVAE STAINED WITH ANTIBODIES AGAINST MYOSIN (RED), ACTININ (GREEN) AND COLLAGEN (BLUE). view more 

CREDIT: DR AVNIKA RUPARELIA

As we age, our muscles start to waste. Called sarcopenia, it happens to us all, yet no one has ever understood why and how it happens. Now new research from the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash University has used a surprising animal model – the African killifish – to reveal that towards the end of life, our muscles actually reverse to an “early-life” state, slowing mortality. This finding may provide a clue to slowing, halting or even reversing age-related loss of muscle mass and strength.

The research, published in the Aging Cell and led by Professor Peter Currie and Dr Avnika Ruparelia, who is from ARMI and the University of Melbourne, is important because of the expected dramatic increase in the prevalence and severity of sarcopenia throughout the global population.

According to Professor Currie, “…there is a pressing need to understand the mechanisms that drive sarcopenia, so that we can identify and implement suitable medical interventions to promote healthy muscle ageing,” he said.

The African turquoise killifish, Nothobranchius furzeri has recently emerged as a new model for the study of ageing. Killifish have the shortest known life span of any vertebrate species that can be bred in captivity. Life for a killifish begins with the African rains, creating seasonal rain pools in which fish hatch, grow rapidly and mature in as few as two weeks, and then reproduce daily until the pool dries out.

Importantly, their short life span is accompanied with symptoms of ageing we see in humans – including the appearance of cancerous lesions in the liver and gonads, reduced regenerative capacity of the limbs, in this case the fin, and genetic characteristics that are the hallmark of human ageing such as a reduction in mitochondrial DNA copy number and function and shortening of telomeres.

According to Dr Ruparelia, this study is the first to use the killifish to study sarcopenia.

“In this study, we performed a thorough cellular and molecular characterization of skeletal muscle from early life, aged and extremely old late-life stages, revealing many similarities to sarcopenia in humans and other mammals,” she said.

Surprisingly the researchers also found these same metabolic hallmarks of ageing are reversed during the late-life stage, “suggesting that in extremely old animals, there may be
mechanisms in place that prevent further deterioration of skeletal muscle health, which may ultimately contribute to an extension of their life span,” Dr Ruparelia said.

“Importantly, the late-life stage during which we observed improved muscle health perfectly coincides with a stage when mortality rates decline. We therefore postulate that the improvement in muscle health may be a critical factor contributing to the extension of life span in extremely old individuals.”

To better understand the mechanisms behind this, the research team surveyed the metabolism of fish at different stages of the ageing process. This experiment surprisingly revealed that certain features of the metabolism of the very oldest fish actually were rejuvenated to resemble those of young fish. It highlighted the critical role of lipid metabolism in this process of rejuvenation.  By using drugs that regulate the formation of certain lipids a similar rejuvenation of ageing muscle could be achieved.  

“During extreme old age, there is a striking depletion of lipids, which are the main energy reserves in our cells,” explains senior author Prof Currie.

“We believe that this mimics a state of calorie restriction, a process known to extend life span in other organsims, which results in activation of downstream mechanisms ultimately enabling the animal to maintain nutrient balance and live longer. A similar process is seen in the muscle of highly trained athletes.”

Dr Ruparelia went on to say, “The idea that muscle ageing may be reversible, and potentially treatable by drugs that can manipulate a cell’s metabolism, is an exciting prospect especially given the social, economic and healthcare costs associated with the ever-growing aged population around the world. We are excited by the potential of the killifish model, and very grateful to the Winston Churchill Trust for funding, and to Hon Dr Kay Patterson for her assistance with establishing the import regulations to establish first and only killifish facility in Australia. We now have a unique opportunity to study biological processes regulating ageing and age-related diseases, and to investigate strategies to promote heathy ageing.”

The publication was the cumulation of a collaboration between researchers from:

• Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (Australia)
• Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (Australia)
• The University of Melbourne (Australia)
• Centre for Muscle Research (Australia)
• Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Australia)
• Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (Germany)

 

More information

The Currie group is curious about the biological mechanisms of the zebrafish, a freshwater fish that is native to South-East Asia. Zebrafish are used in scientific research to understand human genetics and the biological processes of human diseases. For more information on Professor Peter Currie and his group at ARMI, please visit the Currie Group page. You can contact Dr Avnika Ruparelia or Professor Peter Currie via avnika.ruparelia@unimelb.edu.au and peter.currie@monash.edu respectively.

JOURNAL

Aging Cell

DOI

10.1111/acel.13862 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

The African killifish: A short-lived vertebrate model to study the biology of sarcopenia and longevity

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

16-May-2023

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Interplay between calcium and sarcomeres directs cardiomyocyte maturation during regeneration

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-May-2023

Biodiversity discovery: Unknown species ("dark taxa") drive insect diversity

20 insect families globally account for 50% of flying insect biodiversity, whether in local meadows or tropical forests

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MUSEUM FÜR NATURKUNDE, LEIBNIZ INSTITUT FÜR EVOLUTIONS-UND BIODIVERSITÄTSFORSCHUNG

Biodiversity loss ranks among the top three risks to humanity, as stated in the 2023 World Economic Forum Global Risks Report. Understanding biodiversity's basic building blocks is essential to monitor changes, identify influencing factors, and implement appropriate policies. However, much of terrestrial animal diversity, including insects, remains unknown or "dark taxa."

For example, the global biodiversity information portal GBIF has nine times more information on birds than insects and arthropods, despite birds only accounting for 0.2% of biodiversity. Prof. Rudolf Meier, head of the Center for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, highlights the importance of this study in addressing this deficit for effective nature conservation. He emphasizes the need to learn more about insects, as their combined biomass and biodiversity far surpass that of all vertebrates, and they are crucial for survival.

To determine the global taxonomic composition of flying insects, researchers used Malaise traps. These standardized traps are widely employed in global biomonitoring programs. However, analyzing samples is challenging when examining individual insects. Thanks to recent advances in sequencing technologies, biodiversity can now be estimated with "DNA barcodes".

Researchers used DNA barcodes to assign 225,261 specimens to 25,000 species to 458 families. Dr. Amrita Srivathsan, the study's lead author, noted the surprising finding that 10-20 families dominate flying insect communities worldwide. This is remarkable as samples were collected from various climates and habitats like tropical rainforests, montane forests, cedar savannas, scrub forests, thorn fields, mangroves, and swamps, with only Australia and Antarctica not being sampled.

Describing insects is a major challenge in understanding life on Earth, with over 80% still undescribed. The authors emphasize that a large fraction of terrestrial animal biodiversity remains unknown to science and will continue to be, unless "dark taxa" become a priority target in biodiversity research.

Publication: Srivathsan, A.; Ang,Y.; Heraty, J.M.; Hwang, W.S.; Jusoh, W. F.A.; Kutty, S.N.; Puniamoorthy, J.; Yeo,D.; Roslin, T.; Meier,R. (2023): Convergence of dominance and neglect in flying insect diversity. Nature Ecology & Evolution
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02066-0

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JOURNAL

Nature Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1038/s41559-023-02066-0 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Nature Ecology & Evolution

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

18-May-2023

Climate change to push species over abrupt tipping points

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

Climate change is likely to abruptly push species over tipping points as their geographic ranges reach unforeseen temperatures, finds a new study led by a UCL researcher.

The new Nature Ecology & Evolution study predicts when and where climate change is likely to expose species across the globe to potentially dangerous temperatures.

The research team from UCL, University of Cape Town, University of Connecticut and University at Buffalo analysed data from over 35,000 species of animals (including mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, corals, fish, cephalopods and plankton) and seagrasses from every continent and ocean basin, alongside climate projections running up to 2100.

The researchers investigated when areas within each species’ geographical range will cross a threshold of thermal exposure, defined as the first five consecutive years where temperatures consistently exceed the most extreme monthly temperature experienced by a species across its geographic range over recent history (1850-2014).

Once the thermal exposure threshold is crossed, the animal is not necessarily going to die out, but there is no evidence that it is able to survive the higher temperatures – that is, the research projects that for many species there could be an abrupt loss of habitat due to future climate change.

The researchers found a consistent trend that for many animals, the thermal exposure threshold will be crossed for much of their geographic range within the same decade.

Lead author Dr Alex Pigot (UCL Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research, UCL Biosciences) said: “It is unlikely that climate change will gradually make environments more difficult for animals to survive in. Instead, for many animals, large swaths of their geographic range are likely to become unfamiliarly hot in a short span of time.

“While some animals may be able to survive these higher temperatures, many other animals will need to move to cooler regions or evolve to adapt, which they likely cannot do in such short timeframes.

“Our findings suggest that once we start to notice that a species is suffering under unfamiliar conditions, there may be very little time before most of its range becomes inhospitable, so it’s important that we identify in advance which species may be at risk in coming decades.”

The researchers found that the extent of global warming makes a big difference: if the planet warms by 1.5°C, 15% of species they studied will be at risk of experiencing unfamiliarly hot temperatures across at least 30% of their existing geographic range in a single decade, but this doubles to 30% of species at 2.5°C of warming.

Dr Pigot added: “Our study is yet another example of why we need to urgently reduce carbon emissions to mitigate the harmful effects climate change is having on animals and plants, and avoid a massive extinction crisis.”

The researchers hope that their study could help with targeting conservation efforts, as their data provides an early warning system showing when and where particular animals are likely to be at risk.

Co-author Dr Christopher Trisos (African Climate and Development Initiative, University of Cape Town) said: “In the past we’ve had snapshots to show the impact of climate change, but here we are presenting the data more like a film, where you can see the changes unfold over time. This shows that for many species the risk is a bit like everything, everywhere, all at once. By animating this process, we hope to help direct conservation efforts before it’s too late, while also showing the potentially catastrophic consequences of letting climate change continue unchecked.”

The researchers say that this pattern of abrupt exposure may be an inevitable feature of living on a round planet – because of the shape of the Earth, there is more area available to species in environments near the hot end of what they are used to, such as in low-lying areas or near the equator.

A previous study by the same lead authors found that even if we stop climate change so that global temperatures peak and start to decline, the risks to biodiversity could persist for decades after.* In another analysis similar to the current study, they found that many species facing unfamiliar temperatures will be living alongside other animals experiencing similar temperature shocks, which could pose grave risks to local ecosystem function.**

The study was supported by the Royal Society, the Natural Environment Research Council, the National Science Foundation (US), the African Academy of Sciences and NASA.

* https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2022/jun/biodiversity-risks-persist-well-beyond-future-global-temperature-peak

** https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/apr/climate-change-could-cause-sudden-biodiversity-losses-worldwide

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JOURNAL

Nature Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1038/s41559-023-02070-4 

ARTICLE TITLE

Abrupt expansion of climate change risks for species globally

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

18-May-2023

Engineering: The house that diapers built

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SCIENTIFIC REPORTS

Up to eight percent of the sand in concrete and mortar used to make a single-story house could be replaced with shredded used disposable diapers without significantly diminishing their strength, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. The authors suggest that disposable diaper waste could be used as a construction material for low-cost housing in low- and middle-income countries.

Disposable diapers are usually manufactured from wood pulp, cotton, viscose rayon, and plastics such as polyester, polyethylene, and polypropylene. The majority are disposed of in landfill or by incineration.

Siswanti Zuraida and colleagues prepared concrete and mortar samples by combining washed, dried, and shredded disposable diaper waste with cement, sand, gravel, and water. These samples were then cured for 28 days. The authors tested six samples containing different proportions of diaper waste to measure how much pressure they could withstand without breaking. They then calculated the maximum proportion of sand that could be replaced with disposable diapers in a range of building materials that would be needed to construct a house with a floorplan area of 36 square metres that complies with Indonesian building standards.

The authors found that disposable diaper waste could replace up to ten percent of the sand needed for concrete used to form columns and beams in a three-story house. This proportion increased to 27 percent of sand needed for concrete columns and beams in a single-story house. Up to 40 percent of the sand needed for mortar in partition walls can be replaced with disposable diapers, compared to nine percent of the sand in mortar for floors and garden paving. Together, up to eight percent of the sand in all of the concrete and mortar building materials required to build a single-story house with a floorplan of 36 square metres can be replaced with disposable diaper waste — equivalent to 1.7 cubic metres of waste.

The authors note that wider implementation of their findings would require the involvement of stakeholders in government and waste treatment in developing processes for the large-scale collection, sanitising, and shredding of diaper waste. Additionally, building regulations would need to be modified to allow the use of diaper waste as a construction material.

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Article details

Application of non-degradable waste as building material for low-cost housing

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-32981-y

Corresponding Author:

Siswanti Zuraida
The University of Kitakyushu, Japan
Email: b0dbb409@eng.kitakyu-u.ac.jp; siswanti.zuraida@gmail.com

Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-32981-y

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-32981-y 

ARTICLE TITLE

Application of non-degradable waste as building material for low-cost housing

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

18-May-2023

WVU researcher searching for ‘holy grail’ of sustainable bioenergy

Grant and Award Announcement

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: MEMBERS OF THE BRZOSTEK LAB AT WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY MARVEL AT THE SOIL PIT THEY DUG TO MEASURE HOW MISCANTHUS ROOTS AND SOIL MICROBES CONTRIBUTE TO FORMING LONG-LIVED DEEP SOIL CARBON. PICTURED ARE NOAH WAULS, UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT; EDWARD BRZOSTEK, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY; JESSICA BURKE, UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT; DOMINICK CIFELLI, MASTER’S STUDENT; AND ZOE PAGLIARO, DOCTORAL STUDENT. view more 

CREDIT: WVU PHOTO

Searches for sustainable bioenergy and climate change solutions may be one in the same, according to a West Virginia University researcher.

Edward Brzostek, associate professor of biology, and his students at the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences are creating mathematical models to predict how bioenergy crops will enhance and store soil carbon through a renewed five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Brzostek said he believes the models could present a “win-win” that not only improves soil carbon but spurs renewable bioenergy from biological sources. This includes biofuels like corn ethanol and perennial grasses.

Soil microbes in Brzostek’s model determine how plants might store or lose carbon in the future. That’s something current models haven’t taken into consideration.

“Our model can predict whether a bioenergy crop is going to be a net carbon benefit or actually result in carbon losses,” he said. Variables include whether living roots increase or decrease carbon in the soil and how the processes vary with depth and differences in feedstocks.

Natural climate solutions like regenerative agriculture can help mitigate the effects of climate change. Brzostek’s goal is to determine the most efficient way to facilitate the growth of biofuel sources while cleaning up the environment.

“We don't need any new technology to do this,” he said. “It’s one of the few ways that you can get carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The holy grail of bioenergy crops is to make products or fuel while also storing more carbon in the ecosystem. If you can grow a biofuel that enhances soil carbon, that’s a win-win.”

Capturing and storing carbon comes naturally to plants, which take it in through photosynthesis. When the plant dies, the leaf litter and dead root material stay in the soil. From there, different entities go to work on the decaying matter, the vast majority of which is decomposed by bacteria and fungi. When they die, their byproducts — including carbon — remain in the soil.

“It’s like a microbial funnel,” Brzostek said. “And a lot of the questions that we’re asking about soil carbon storage, agricultural management and predicting soil carbon into the future are germane to any ecosystem. They’re fundamental questions in ecology that are important to understanding whether our ecosystems can keep the carbon they have and potentially take up more.”

The research team is also looking at how plants help themselves.

“There’s this growing idea that plants can engineer their soil environment by doing things with their roots,” he said. “They can leak carbon out of their roots that feed the microbes. That makes the microbes happy. They break down soil carbon and then they give the plant nitrogen in return, which it needs to grow.”

Thus far, research has revealed that miscanthus roots can mine the nitrogen from leaf litter without leading to carbon being lost.

The microbes perform an essential role in the process. Fortunately, they’re ubiquitous.

“When you walk out in the forest in West Virginia, the microbes are eating everything,” Brzostek said. “If they weren’t, you’d be drowning in leaf litter.”

His research is carried out under the Center of Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Innovation, established in 2017 by the U.S. Department of Energy. CABBI, headquartered at the University of Illinois, brings together 20 partner institutions, universities and national laboratories to research sustainable bioproducts from bioenergy crops.

Decarbonizing the economy is complicated. Wind, solar and nuclear power are renewable, but some industries — like aviation — cannot be decarbonized.

“Bioenergy can play a part in the new bioeconomy,” Brzostek said. “We talk about bioenergy refineries and plants that could produce energy from some bioenergy crop. They’d capture the carbon dioxide and pump it underground. It could lead to a new green industry across much of the rain-fed United States, where you can grow these things.”

WVU students and postdoctoral researchers assisting Brzostek on the research include Joanna Ridgeway, Zoe Pagliaro, Dominick Cifelli, Jessica Burke, Noah Wauls and Stephanie Juice. 

CAPTION

WVU students Joanna Ridgeway and Dominick Cifelli measure carbon dioxide respiration from soil incubations to get an indicator of microbial activity.

CREDIT

WVU Photo

“In the sea everything is connected”: Portugal welcomes International Symposium “Human Impacts on Marine Functional Connectivity”

Meeting Announcement

FACULTY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LISBON

 

IMAGE: THE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM TAKES PLACE BETWEEN MAY 22-25, 2023, AT SESIMBRA (PORTUGAL). view more 

CREDIT: INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM "HUMAN IMPACTS ON MARINE FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY"

The international symposium “Human Impacts on Marine Functional Connectivity” takes place between May 22-25, 2023, at Sesimbra (Portugal). More than one hundred researchers, marine managers and politicians from 30 countries worldwide share the latest discoveries on this subject and discuss policies for the management and preservation of these ecosystems.

“In the sea everything is connected. Species know no borders. The connections that exist in the ocean are essential for the species that live in it, many of them of extreme importance to us, in our food, for the biodiversity they represent, in the role they play in nature. Phenomena such as climate change, the construction of new infrastructures such as aquaculture units, energy production, bridges, ports and marinas, are some examples of how human action has impacted these connections”, says Susanne Tanner, Researcher at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Ciências ULisboa) and organizer of this symposium.

In the first three days, there are five thematic sessions moderated by world-renowned researchers, which include more than 60 oral presentations and 30 posters. On the last day, two workshops will take place: the first, at the science-society interface, will discuss the best way to use historical and pre-industrial data to anticipate future changes in species distribution and consequences for marine ecosystems; the second, in the science-policy interface, will discuss how to involve governments and NGOs in the co-creation of actions and tools that incorporate scientific data into decision-making, planning and policy processes for sustainable development.

The symposium has the support of Sesimbra City Council and is organized by the COST SEA-UNICORN Action, by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), and locally by Ciências ULisboa, MARE/ARNET and the Center or Functional Ecology of the University of Coimbra (Portugal)

POLITICAL ECOLOGY

Conservationists propose “global conservation basic income” to safeguard biodiversity

Analysis shows that paying a basic income of $5.50 per day to all residents of protected areas in low- and middle-income countries would cost less than subsidies given to fossil fuels

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY

 

IMAGE: ANALYSIS SHOWS THAT PAYING A BASIC INCOME OF $5.50 PER DAY TO ALL RESIDENTS OF PROTECTED AREAS IN LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES WOULD COST LESS THAN SUBSIDIES GIVEN TO FOSSIL FUELS view more 

CREDIT: JULIE LARSEN MAHER/WCS

Publishing in the journal Nature Sustainability, a team of conservationists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society say that providing a “Conservation Basic Income” (CBI) – of $5.50 per day to all residents of protected areas in low- and middle-income countries would cost less than annual subsidies given to fossil fuels and other environmentally harmful industries.

CBI is an unconditional cash payment to individuals, similar to universal basic income (UBI)10 but targeting residents of important conservation areas. A Conversation Basic Income would support stewardship of land and biodiversity by Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

The authors provided the first global estimates for the gross costs of CBI using spatial analyses of three plausible future conservation scenarios. Gross costs vary widely, depending on the areas and populations included as well as the payment amounts: from $351 billion to $6.73 trillion annually.

The authors say a CBI is a potentially powerful mechanism for facilitating a radical shift in conservation. They say that evidence from other poverty-alleviation cash transfer programs that are unconditional with respect to conservation outcomes suggest that a CBI could achieve conservation in many contexts. For example, Indonesia’s national program of anti-poverty cash transfers also reduced deforestation across Indonesia.

Said lead author Dr. Emiel de Lange of WCS’s Cambodia Program: “CBI more equitably distributes the costs and benefits of conservation because basic income schemes improve wellbeing, reduce poverty, and redress inequalities including gender inequity. Inequalities, including gender, are key drivers of biodiversity loss. CBI could enable communities to pursue their own visions of a good life and avoid exploitation by extractive industries. Moreover, through redistribution of wealth from affluent populations and/or harmful industries, CBI can reduce aggregate global consumption and environmental impact.”

These costs of a CBI are significant compared to current government conservation spending, (~$133 billion in 2020) but represent a potentially sensible investment in safeguarding incalculable social and natural values as well as the estimated $44 trillion in global economic production dependent on nature.

READ THE STUDY HERE.

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JOURNAL

Nature Sustainability

DOI

10.1038/s41893-023-01115-7 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

A global conservation basic income to safeguard biodiversity

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

18-May-2023

Perfection: The Enemy of Evolution

Freedom to miss the optimal mark opens a wide range of new designs over time

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DUKE UNIVERSITY

DURHAM, N.C. -- Scientists are often trained to seek out the absolute best solution to a given problem. On a chalk board, this might look something like drawing a graph to find a function’s minimum or maximum point. When designing a turbojet engine, it might mean tweaking the rotor blades’ angles a tiny degree to achieve a tenth of a percent increase in efficiency.

Adrian Bejan, the J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University, was busy demonstrating the former for a class full of students when a thought struck him: this is not how nature operates. Evolution is a sequence of design changes happening on their own in a discernible direction; it never weds itself to a single point on a drawing board. An evolving system or animal is free to simply go with what works. Not so much that its performance suffers greatly, but enough that it opens access to other options near the so-called optimal design.

With science often looking to nature for clues to solve challenges, Bejan wondered if he might look the opposite way, to predict nature before looking at it. If problem solvers and builders were free to miss the absolute highest mark, how much greater might be the range of designs they consider plausible?

That’s the question that Bejan posits in a new paper published online May 16 in the journal Biosystems. Using two relatively simple examples — walkways ferrying passengers off a train and a bird flapping its wings — he discovers that the answer is, “quite a lot.”

“In engineering, design, theater, architecture or even the organization of this university, any form of design benefits from the ability to make good but imperfect decisions and the freedom to move on and contemplate other opportunities for improvement,” Bejan said. “If one is wedded to the idea of the absolute best, nothing new will ever be created.”

In the paper, Bejan first looks at the example of passengers arriving by train and walking across a room with many exit points. With the total area of the room remaining constant but the length and width of the room free to change, he solves for the optimal shape of the room to get all passengers where they’re going the quickest. With the solution equations in hand, he shows that providing even 1% wiggle room for imperfection away from the best performance opens the design space by 28%.

In his second example, Bejan looks at the flapping motion of birds at nearly constant altitude and speed. Considering the various forces involved — drag during gliding, lift created by wing size, speed and body size, among others — he formulates an equation for the rhythm of wings needed to maintain constant speed with minimum effort. While an optimal answer does exist, Bejan once again shows that allowing for just 1% imperfection above the theoretical minimum effort opens the design space by 20%.

Bejan says that he chose these examples because they involved changing only a single variable, a single degree of freedom — the shape for a room or the flapping rhythm for a wing. In more complex examples that involve many variables, these tiny tolerances for imperfection create an even wider range of “good enough” solutions.

The lesson learned is that science now has a predictive idea of how nature works. By focusing less on finding absolute optimal designs, researchers may use the freedom to iteratively move toward entirely new design concepts that wouldn’t otherwise have been within their sight. It also gives designs, methods and entire fields of study the ability to adapt to a changing world.

“The doctrine of chasing the best design is not helpful,” Bejan said. “The teaching of science should go hand-in-hand with the freedom to take a shot, hit the vicinity of the mark and move on. The end goal isn’t just to hit a bullseye, but to keep more arrows in your quiver to keep taking shots over a long period of time.”

This work was supported by a grant from CaptiveAire Systems.

CITATION: “Perfection is the Enemy of Evolution,” Adrian Bejan. Biosystems, Volume 229, July 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2023.104917

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JOURNAL

Biosystems

DOI

10.1016/j.biosystems.2023.104917 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Perfection is the Enemy of Evolution