Sharing the Planet: Humanity’s Greatest Challenge

Annual Science Lecture

Sharing the Planet:Humanity’s Greatest Challenge

Sir Mark Walport

Introduction: Dr Michael Dixon, Director, Natural History Museum

2 Natural History Museum: Annual Science Lecture, Sharing the Planet

The Diversity of Life

Credit: Gilles San Martin

Credit: NEON ja/CC-BY-SA-2.5


Sharing Our Genome:One Genetic Family

Credit: www.evogeneao.com

The regions that code for proteins are most similar

1 difference per 1000 base pairs between people

Person 1Person 2

2 differences per 100 base pairs between people and chimps

Person 1Chimp

40 differences per 100 base pairs between people and mice

Person 1Mouse

Small regions of similarity between people and nematode worms

Person 1Worm


Genetic Conservation Between Species

Credit: Dee'lite/CC-BY-2.0

Credit: Eric Isselee/Shutterstock

Credit: Getty

Credit: Erik Jorgensen, University of Utah

Sharing Our Environment


Credit: Ian Usher/CC-BY-SA-3.0

Credit: John Tann/CC-BY-2.0


• Photosynthesis began 2.5 billion years ago

• Cyanobacteria were first to evolve the capability

• Carboniferous forests evolved ~ 300 m years ago

Generating Our Atmosphere

Credit: Natural History Museum



Sulfolobus acidocaldarius Credit: Brocken Inaglory/CC-BY-SA-3.0

Credit:Sufosys Biotec


Inheriting Our Atmosphere

Red Beds

Banded Iron Formations

Human

s

2.0 1.5 1.0 0.52.5

10

1

0.10.01

0.1

1

CO

2 con

centratio

n (%

)

“gre

at o

xyge

natio

n”

Eukar

yote

cells

Fungi

Land

Plan

ts

Oxygen

Carbon Dioxide

Time (billion years before present)

Oxy

gen

co

nce

ntr

atio

n (

%)


PD

Credit: Andrew Watson, University of Exeter

Inheriting Our Energy


Credit: Agencia Brasil/CC-BY-SA-3.0-BRCredit: Meredithw/CC-BY-SA-3.0

PD

Credit: Jack Versloot/CC-BY-2.0


Our Relationship with Other Species

Credit: British Museum


•Wealthy and popular physician•Amassed one of the greatest collections of plants and animals of his time.•Oldest Collection in the Natural History Museum

Specimens from the CarolinasPreserved in Sir Hans Sloane’s collection

Classifying the World




Carl Linnaeus18th Century Swedish Botanist

Leaf Forms from Linnaeus’s Systema Naturæ

Ordering the Natural World: Taxonomy

PD Credit: University of Otago, New Zealand


Causing Extinction Credit: Mohammed Alnaser

1598-1662



Mary Anning19th Century British Palaeontologist

Fossil of Plesiosaurus macrocephalusOne of Mary Anning’s discoveries

Discovering the Extinct

Credit: Natural History Museum Credit: N Natural History Museum


Genomic Taxonomy:The Next Tool Box

Cupedidae

Carabidae: Harpalinae

Curculionoidea

StaphylinidaeBuprestidae

Byrrhoidea

Elateroidea

Cleroidea

Cerylonid Series

Tenebrionoidea

Chrysomeloidea

Cucujoidea

Beetles from canopy flogging in Borneo


Discovering the Invisible

S. cerevisiae

Louis Pasteur19th Century French chemist

and microbiologist

PD


Clostridium bacteria has been linked to gut ailments

• There are 10 times more bacterial cells your intestines than there are cells in your entire body (100 trillion)!

• This weighs about 1 kg.

•Sensitive to antibiotics, diet and surgery.

Sharing our Body

Credit: Dr David Phillips/Getty Images


The Yak Microbiome

MethanogensMethanobrevibacter

Reduce carbon content

MethanogensMethanobrevibacter

Reduce carbon content

Plant MaterialPlant Material

ProtozoaIsotricha intestinalis

Metabolise plant material

ProtozoaIsotricha intestinalis

Metabolise plant material Pectin-Fermenting Bacteria

Bacteroides ruminicolaBreaks down carbohydrates

Pectin-Fermenting BacteriaBacteroides ruminicola

Breaks down carbohydrates

CarbohydratesCarbohydrates

CO2, H2CO2, H2

MethaneMethane

Credit: Pongratz/CC-BY-SA-3.0


CholeraVibrio cholerae

Malaria ParasitePlasmodium falciparum

Influenza A virusOrthomyxoviridae

Our Deadliest Rivals


Jumping Species

PATHOGEN ORIGINAL YEARHOST REPORTED

Ebola virus Bats 1977

Escherichia coli O157:H7 Cattle 1982

Borrelia burgdorferi Rodents 1982

SIV/HIV-1 Primates 1983

SIV/HIV-2 Primates 1986

Hendra virus Bats 1994

BSE/vCJD Cattle 1996

Australian bat lyssavirus Bats 1996

H5N1 influenza A Chickens 1997

Nipah virus Bats 1999

SARS coronavirus Palm civets 2003

Our Dance with Infectious Organisms


Credit: josullivan.59/CC-BY-2.0


Our Dance with Infectious Organisms: Spread of SARS


Moving Species Around

Potato:DeliberateRats:ACCIDENTAL Credit: Guillaume BaviereCredit: Matthieu Aubry/CC-BY-NC-SA-2.0


For Food, Biocontrol and Aesthetics

Credit: Guillaume Baviere

Credit: Andreia Isleb

Credit: SMcGarnigle/CC-BY-2.0Credit: AFP Rob Elliott


Aesthetics:Hydrangea in the Azores

Credit: Guillaume Baviere


Food and Resources:Rabbits in Australia

Credit: JJ Harrison/CC-BY-SA-3.0

PD


Then Biocontrol:Introduction of Myxoma Virus

PD

PD

PD


SoybeanApple

Orange

Sugarcane

Sugar beet Alfalfa

Almond

Rice

Grape, Rye

Sorghum

Barley, Wheat

Onion

Lettuce

Strawberry

Peanut

Potato

Tobacco

Dry bean

Cotton

StrawberryCorn, dry bean, tomato

Sunflower

The Globalisation of Food Crops

Wild mustard plant(Brassica oleracea)


Modifying Species:Diversify and Enhance

Strain Kohlrabi Kale Broccoli Brussels sprouts

Cabbage Cauliflower

Modified trait

Stem Leaves Flower buds and stem

Lateral leaf buds

Terminal leaf bud

Flower buds


Grey Wolf

Pets: e.g. Corgi Pets: e.g. Poodle

Herding Dogs: e.g. Border Collie

Gun Dogs: e.g. English Pointer

Diversify and Enhance: Dogs

1 millionyears ago

100,000years ago Today10,000

years ago100

years ago1,000

years ago

Human Occupation of

New Environmental

Zones

Unequivocal Anthropogenic

Warming

England and Wales deforested90% 17%

Cities & the built

environment emerge


Domestication of Fruits

Agriculture

Pasture and Plough

arrive in UK

The Practical Steam Engine

Modifying the Environment

Regular Fire Use

Complex Stone Tools

Future


Subsistence Farming

Credit: Bombadier, flickr

Credit: Bombadier/CC-BY-2.0

The African Diaspora



Intensive Farming

Credit: USDA

Credit: Farm Sanctuary


Our Hunger for Resources: Cows and Badgers


Our Hunger for Resources: Competing with Pests

Credit: kohlmann.sascha/CC-BY-SA-2.0

Credit: Jeff Kubina

Credit: iStockphoto


Our Hunger for Resources: Collaborating with Bees

Credits: orangeaurochs, kirstyhall, Gudlyf, somebox and hankinsphoto.com


Credit: Mark Walport


Our Hunger for Resources:Disappearing Ecosystems

41 Natural History Museum: Annual Science Lecture, Sharing the Planet Credit: Arian Zwegers/CC-BY-2.0

Moynaq, The Aral Sea


Agricultural Chemical Addiction:Coral Bleaching and Algal Blooms

Credit: USFWF PacificCredit: eutrophication&hypoxia/CC-BY-2.0

Credit: Oregon State University

Source: Kaplin 2009

Evidence From•Domesday Book•Soil Record•Climate Modelling


Deforestation of Europe

England and Wales

deforested90% 17% tree cover


The Pace of Change Picks up:Industrialisation

Credit: Leonard Bentley


Our Driver: Exponential Growth

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

-2000 -1000 0 1000 2000

Year

Wo

rld

Po

pu

lati

on

(M

illio

ns)


Credit: NOAA

Credit: IPCC

The Atmosphere Catches Up


Climate Disruption, not Climate Change

Source: Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (2013)


Some we can do something about Some we can’t

A Stitch in Time: Enlightenment 2.0

Credit: James Cridland/CC-BY-2.0

Credit: Nick carson/CC-BY-SA-3.0

Credit: Eneas/CC-BY-2.0

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Credit: PD

Mitigate

Adapt

Suffer

Climate policy responses…


Credit: Harvey McDaniel

Credit: Reuters

Credit: Ian Britton/CC-BY-NC-ND-3.0


The Push of Population

Credit: Julien Harneis/CC-BY-SA-2.0

Source: Population Reference Bureau 2009


The Solutions are Technological - Mitigate: Population Growth

Credit: Bryancalabro/CC-BY-SA-3.0

Credit: hddod/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0CC BY-SA 2.0 - Russ Ferriday


Credit: Russ Ferriday/CC-BY-SA-2.0

Credit: Bidgee/CC-BY-SA-2.0

The Solutions are Technological – Diverse Energy Sources

Credit: Bellona


Credit: Ian Britton/CC-BY-NC 2.0

Credit: Pieter van Marion/CC-BY-SA 2.0

Credit: Ludovic Hirlimann

Some of the Solutions are Technological – Reduce Energy

Demand


The Solutions are Technological - Adapt: Water Shortages

New Sanitation Value Chain

Credit: http://www.wsup.com/sharing/PracticeNote8.htm


The Solutions are Technological – Adapt: Transgenic Tailoring

Teosinte Zea mays

Selective Breeding • Millions of gene changes

• Chromosome doubling

• Extensive chromosome rearrangement/deletion

• Took >7,500 years

Means that these are highly“Genetically Modified”

Considered safe to eat.

Biotechnology

• Small amount of genetic material

• Accurately determined location

• Consequences rapidly tested

Means that these are slightly“Genetically Modified”

Food safety doubted.

Credit: Jill Farrant, University of Cape Town


Minsmere, December 2013Credit: Mark Walport

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. We apologise for any errors or omissions in the included attributions and would be grateful if notified of

any corrections that should be incorporated in future versions of this slide set. We can be contacted through [email protected] .

@uksciencechiefwww.bis.gov.uk/go-science

Questions

News & Politics

Sharing the Planet: Humanity’s Greatest Challenge