Sustainable development goals: 15 LIFE ON LAND
Satisfying humanity’s needs for food, energy, water, minerals and raw materials without negative impacts on biodiversity while ensuring a sustainable utilisation of ecosystem services is a challenge that is decisive for our survival.
Biodiversity in the world’s
deep oceans is being studied
The deep sea occupies a large part of the Earth’s surface. Yet these environments are almost completely unexplored. In the ‘DeepCCZ Expedition’ research project, researchers from the Department of Marine Sciences are studying biodiversity in deep sea areas protected
as ‘no mining’ areas in the central Pacific Ocean. There is considerable commercial interest in extracting minerals from the seabed. The aim of the project is to determine whether the protected areas in the western Clarion Clipperton Zone in the central Pacific Ocean are adequate to preserve biodiversity.
What would the world look
like without people?
We humans have had an impact on nature and wildlife here on Earth. But what if we humans had never existed? What would the world look like? Would we have elephants in northern Europe? In the ‘Phylogenetic Atlas of Mammal Macroecology’ research project, researchers at the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences are hoping to understand what a world without human influence over the last 130,000 years would have looked like. This research is important for being able to recognise patterns of biodiversity and to predict the impact of climate change on different species.
How does biodiversity arise?
To preserve biodiversity, we need to know how and where it arises. Biologist Christine Bacon studies endangered tropical plants, and she and her research group use the genetic composition of organisms to understand their evolutionary relationships. By combining data from hundreds of genes with mathematical models, researchers can determine species and understand how species adapt and how new species are formed.
Text: Linnéa Magnusson
Illustration: Erika Hoff