2024 Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture by Yadvinder Malhi

Yadvinder Malhi delivered lecture "Captured sunshine: what can an energetic view of life on Earth tell us about nature decline and recovery?" as one of the 2024 Rachel Carson Distinguished Anniversary Lecture Series on Mar 28.

Abstract: The biosphere was first described as “a planetary membrane for capturing, storing and transforming solar energy” (Vernadsky, 1026). Every living organism and organism function in the biosphere is united, and can be compared, by the cascade of captured sunshine that powers it. But beyond powerful imagery, can an energetics approach to ecosystems yield a practical contribution to understanding how increasing human pressure is altering ecological function, and be a tool for assessing effectiveness of nature recovery? This talk explores this potential with a focus on plants, birds and mammals, the best documented taxonomic groups, in the context of terrestrial ecosystems. I draw on examples from intact and logged tropical forests in Borneo, and a broad regional examination of sub-Saharan Africa. An energetic approach to understanding life on Earth can yield some surprising and provocative insights into our changing biosphere.

Yadvinder Malhi is Professor of Ecosystem Science at the University of Oxford and Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery. His work focuses on understanding and maintaining a flourishing biosphere in the context of global change, and over much of his career has particularly focused on tropical rainforests. More recent work explores nature recovery in the Anthropocene from a variety of perspectives. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and Past-President of the British Ecological Society and the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation.