- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"Two categories of evolutionary challenges result from escalating human impacts on the planet," Carroll says. "The first arises from cancers, pathogens and pests evolving too quickly, and the second from the inability of many valued species to adapt quickly enough."
Carroll says that applied evolutionary biology offers strategies to address these global challenges that threaten human health, food security and biodiversity and natural resources.
He will highlight both progress and gaps in evolutionary methods across the life sciences that either "target the rate and director of evolution or reduce the mismatch between organisms and human-altered environments."
"Refining and applying these underused tools will be vial for meeting current and future targets for sustainable development."
Carroll does research on patterns of ongoing evolution in wild and anthropogenic environments. He is well-known for his studies on evolutionary changes in soapberry bugs in response to plant introductions. His expertise includes behavioral and evolutionary aspects of adaptation to contemporary environmental change in insects and other organisms.
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