Rapid Pace of Environmental Change May Surpass Natural Adaptability of Neural Systems, Researchers Say

Accelerated environmental changes, including those due to habitat depletion and contamination, light and noise pollution, and other disturbances, have far-reaching effects on neurobiological systems that may outpace the adaptive responses of humans and animals. Understanding neural system response to rapidly changing ecosystems is vital for the ability to predict what may transpire with these changes and how neural systems may adapt or fail to adapt to them.

Researchers are pointing to opportunities to explore how environmental changes impact human and animal nervous systems, an area in which little is known. A review published in Frontiers synthesizes existing research (primarily behavioral studies on environmental influence) and identifies three major changing ecosystems that impose stressors on neural systems that are ripe for inquiry: sensory pollution, ocean acidification and global warming.

"What we do in the lab is not sufficient to understand how the nervous system actually functions. We need to take into account the environment and the influences the environment exposes on the nervous system," stated Wolfgang Stein, Professor of Neurophysiology at Illinois State University.

The Kavli Foundation recently announced funding research in this emerging field of study, stemming from conversations with researchers, including a gathering of scientists from different disciplines discussing the importance of understanding how nervous systems are responding to environmental flux. The foundation's early support of research in this area, including a partnership with the Grass Foundation for the Kavli-Grass Fellowships, has spurred interest from other funders, including government and philanthropies to fund research opportunities.

"While behavioral and ecological changes resulting from human-caused activity are becoming increasingly described, identification and examination of the cellular, molecular, and circuit-level processes underlying those changes are profoundly underexplored," remarked Amy Bernard, Director of Life Sciences at The Kavli Foundation. "Impacts on ecosystems and natural animal populations are inescapable, and they provide a new challenge to discover fundamental properties of cells and neural circuits and a novel opportunity for scientific research with the potential for transformative discoveries."

What the Scientific Community is Saying

"I am thrilled that The Kavli Foundation is taking a lead role in supporting research at the intersection of neuroscience and environmental science. This nascent field has great potential for impactful discoveries and needs to be supported. The Allen Institute also just launched a call for proposals to study the nervous system in rapidly changing environments. We hope that other organizations will join." - Rui Costa, neuroscientist and President and CEO of the Allen Institute.

"I am really interested in how animals interact with the environment; how they sense light, movement and taste, and other sensory processes and what they do with this information in their brain to produce their natural animal behaviors. In the context of anthropogenic change, I am interested to know when they interact with pollutants in the environment, and how that changes both the way they perceive the environment and respond to it." - Rachel Parkinson, Newton International Fellow at University of Oxford, England.

"All behavior of animals and humans is driven by the brain and neurobiological mechanisms, so understanding what changing environments do to people and to animals you need to understand brain processes. We need to understand so much, but we know so little." - Hans Slabbekoorn, professor acoustic ecology and behaviour at Leiden University, Netherlands.

"I've spent most of my career working outdoors and so I've been very much exposed to these changing ecosystems and understanding how animals respond to those, which involves the nervous system, and it is extremely important for us to understand how we're going to deal with the effects of human impacts in our future." - Shannon Olsson, chemical ecologist, the National Centre for Biological Sciences, India, and global director of the Echo Network.

About The Kavli Foundation

The Kavli Foundation is dedicated to advancing science for the benefit of humanity. The foundation's mission is to stimulate basic research in astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience and theoretical physics; strengthen the relationship between science and society; and honor scientific discoveries with The Kavli Prize. Learn more at kavlifoundation.org and follow @kavlifoundation.