Grand challenge: Education on Chemical Ecology in the Anthropocene​

This project aims to develop case studies and to propagate examples of research in chemical ecology that are relevant in one country or within one system that should be explored in other countries/ecosystems so that experiences can be shared between research communities. Below we list some important chemical ecology findings with great impact on human welfare and planetary health:

1. Push–pull strategy in agriculture: Reduction of pesticide application is vital to biodiversity protection; however, at the same time agriculture production must be sustained. The push–pull system has been successfully implemented in Africa wherein the main maize crop is grown in an intercrop setting with i) legumes whose semiochemicals repel (push) stem borers and suppress parasitic weeds of maize and ii) grasses such as Napier grass whose semiochemicals attract (pull) these same pests; the combined effect is protection of maize, enhanced soil fertility due to legumes, and suitable production of fodder grass. If the push–pull system is effective in Africa, why cannot it be undertaken in other tropical countries such as India in different crop regimes? The appropriate exposure of researchers to such possibilities is paramount.
2. Entomopathogenic nematodes: Nematodes are successful biological control agents of insect pests. Infested plants such as potatoes, carrots, maize, emit infochemicals from their roots and other organs that attract these biological control agents. Methods to investigate and exploit this chemistry are already in use and investigations are on-going even for protection against above ground pests and the need to capitalise on global nematode diversity.
3. Parasitoids in biological control of insect pests: A great diversity of wasps and flies parasitise insect pests and are effective in controlling their population numbers. Understanding the dynamics and behavioural ecology of locally available pest control species and facilitating their breeding and activity is vital towards a pesticide-free environment
4. Attractants and repellents for disease vector control: Prominent chemical ecology research in Africa has led to an understanding of vector control of important and devastating diseases such as those caused by tsetse flies and a variety of mosquitoes. These attractants and repellents are being used to develop an effective Push–Pull strategy to battle these vectors, with other resources discovered from other parts of the world
5. Mating disruption in insect pests: Pheromone research has been vital not only in successfully breeding commercially valuable insects but also in trapping pest insects (especially males) by the deployment of pheromone traps, and also by saturating the environment with pheromone at levels that cause mating disruption and confusion in adult males resulting in pest population crashes.
6. Fungi–plant interactions for phytoprotection and medicine: Endophytes are important in phytoprotection and in plant growth promotion and are now being viewed as vital to sustainable agriculture. Endophytic fungi are also important in increasing the value of important timber products such as agarwood whose fragrance is a result of fungal–plant interaction.
7. Plant–pollinator interactions: With the exception of wind-pollinated crops such as rice and wheat, most other crops and wild plants need the services of pollinators such as insects, birds, rodents and bats. These are attracted to the flowers by chemicals that produce colours as well as scents
8. Plant–seed disperser interactions: Ants, wasps, beetles, bats, birds, rodents and reptiles are involved in seed dispersal. These interactants are attracted to the fruit and/or seeds by chemicals in the form of colour or scents. Dung beetles are attracted to seeds that smell just like dung in a superb example of chemical mimicry.
9. Biofilm formation: Understanding the chemical communication between bacteria is vital towards short-circuiting biofilm formation in debilitating diseases such as cystic fibrosis as well as in prevention of biofouling in marine environments, and in modulating metal chelating properties of bacteria to address metal pollution in the environment.
10. Venomics for efficient anti-venom production strategy: Annual death rates in tropical countries such as India are 58,000, making envomenation an important condition. Anti-venom treatments are proving ineffective owing to the large intra-population variation in venom chemical composition. Investigation of country-wide and region-wide variation is essential for anti-venom efficacy.

With this background it is clear that chemical ecology education and sensitisation is vital to all spheres of human engagement, biodiversity survival, and planetary health. Moreover, since humans have entered and are responsible for the drastic environmental changes that characterise the Anthropocene, it is important that chemical ecology is examined under the constraints of conditions that will dominate the upcoming decades of the Anthropocene. In this human-dominated era, there will be increasingly major changes in atmospheric chemistry, global climate cycles, local and global environmental disturbances that result from greenhouse gases and a plethora of polluting and oxidising agents in the atmosphere. There will be also substantial increase in tropospheric ozone. These conditions have also resulted in acidifying elements in marine environments resulting in disruptions in marine elemental cycles and ecosystem processes. There is no part of the planet that is immune to the impact of the Anthropocene. For example, we now know that atmospheric pollution has disrupted plant–pollinator interactions by oxidising and thereby altering the volatile components of floral scents, and by impairing insect olfaction and insect memory. Phytotoxic air pollutants such as ozone also alter the volatile organic compounds that plants produce in their interactions with herbivores, pollinators and seed dispersers. Thus pollution and accompanying global warming is changing the production, composition and dispersion of chemical signals and cues. It is thus important to investigate these impacts and to sensitise young researchers and policy makers to the need for buffering against these impacts. Research indicates that these impacts are serious. However, there is so far only limited work on this topic and its consequences especially in tropical regions.

Therefore, the plan for the triennium is the following:

• A comprehensive undergraduate and graduate curriculum for Chemical Ecology in the Anthropocene
• An online open access textbook on Chemical Ecology periodically updated
• A forum for technical approaches and research design in chemical ecology
• A collaborative forum for integrative approaches towards innovative solutions