Abstract
Abstract. Biogeochemistry has an important role to play in many environmental issues of current concern related to global change and air, water, and soil quality. However, reliable predictions and tangible implementation of solutions, offered by biogeochemistry, will need further integration of disciplines. Here, we refocus on how further developing and strengthening ties between biology, geology, chemistry, and social sciences will advance biogeochemistry through (1) better incorporation of mechanisms, including contemporary evolutionary adaptation, to predict changing biogeochemical cycles, and (2) implementing new and developing insights from social sciences to better understand how sustainable and equitable responses by society are achieved. The challenges for biogeochemists in the 21st century are formidable and will require both the capacity to respond fast to pressing issues (e.g., catastrophic weather events and pandemics) and intense collaboration with government officials, the public, and internationally funded programs. Keys to success will be the degree to which biogeochemistry can make biogeochemical knowledge more available to policy makers and educators about predicting future changes in the biosphere, on timescales from seasons to centuries, in response to climate change and other anthropogenic impacts. Biogeochemistry also has a place in facilitating sustainable and equitable responses by society.
Highlights
Biogeochemistry was one of the first truly inter- or multi-disciplinary sciences (Bianchi, 2020; Gorham, 1991; Schlesinger, 1991; Vernadsky et al, 1926) and the field continues to expand in multiple directions at an amazing pace; from small scales via interactions with microbiology and “omics” approaches (Fig. 1) to large scales as a component of Earth system sciences (Steffen et al, 2020).A recent review of biogeochemistry by Bianchi (2020), reflects on these more nascent linkages in molecular biology and their historical and disparate connections
Bianchi et al.: Ideas and perspectives around the world scramble with new health and sociopolitical challenges ranging from global climate change to loss of biodiversity, changing ecosystems, and global pandemics (e.g., coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)) – often linked with the growing human population
Recognition of earlier “moments” of environmental crisis led to the formation of organizations like the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to name a few
Summary
Biogeochemistry was one of the first truly inter- or multi-disciplinary sciences (Bianchi, 2020; Gorham, 1991; Schlesinger, 1991; Vernadsky et al, 1926) and the field continues to expand in multiple directions at an amazing pace; from small scales via interactions with microbiology and “omics” approaches (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) (Fig. 1) to large scales as a component of Earth system sciences (Steffen et al, 2020). Around the world scramble with new health and sociopolitical challenges ranging from global climate change to loss of biodiversity, changing ecosystems, and global pandemics (e.g., coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)) – often linked with the growing human population Addressing these challenges requires new cross-disciplinary approaches by scientists – coupled with a better science-educated public that are more involved with decision-making on sustainability issues (e.g., Derouin, 2020). Climate-driven range expansion of organisms, including immigration–emigration patterns by humans, is expected to enhance zoonotic diseases (both viral and bacterial) (e.g., Han et al, 2015; Allen et al, 2017) and threaten global food supplies (via rise in soil pathogens) (e.g., Delgado-Baquerizo et al, 2020) These changes are likely to be coupled with broader shifts in community-level interactions, organismal adaptive change (Scheffers et al, 2016), and associated changes in biogeochemical cycling rates and fluxes (e.g., nutrient, contaminants, redox conditions) (e.g., Bianchi et al, 2021). We argue for (1) better integration of adaptive evolutionary change, coupled with range expansion, and biogeochemical cycles and (2) continued integration of social sciences, focusing on the human–natural system – in the context of sustainability and biogeochemistry
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