Is It Time for Synthetic Biodiversity Conservation?

Antoinette J. Piaggio; Gernot Segelbacher; Philip J. Seddon; Luke Alphey; Elizabeth L. Bennett; Robert H. Carlson; Robert M. Friedman; Dona Kanavy; Ryan Phelan; Kent H. Redford; Marina Rosales; Lydia Slobodian; Keith Wheeler

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2016.10.016

Is It Time for Synthetic Biodiversity Conservation?

Antoinette J. Piaggio^*, Gernot Segelbacher, Philip J. Seddon, Luke Alphey, Elizabeth L. Bennett, Robert H. Carlson, Robert M. Friedman, Dona Kanavy, Ryan Phelan, Kent H. Redford, Marina Rosales, Lydia Slobodian, Keith Wheeler

^*Corresponding author for this work

Biology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

Evidence indicates that, despite some critical successes, current conservation approaches are not slowing the overall rate of biodiversity loss. The field of synthetic biology, which is capable of altering natural genomes with extremely precise editing, might offer the potential to resolve some intractable conservation problems (e.g., invasive species or pathogens). However, it is our opinion that there has been insufficient engagement by the conservation community with practitioners of synthetic biology. We contend that rapid, large-scale engagement of these two communities is urgently needed to avoid unintended and deleterious ecological consequences. To this point we describe case studies where synthetic biology is currently being applied to conservation, and we highlight the benefits to conservation biologists from engaging with this emerging technology.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	97-107
Number of pages	11
Journal	Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Volume	32
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2016.10.016
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016

Keywords

biodiversity
conservation
synthetic biology

Access to Document

10.1016/j.tree.2016.10.016

Cite this

@article{9362b9ae63b5468f9925075dc3d45e3d,

title = "Is It Time for Synthetic Biodiversity Conservation?",

abstract = "Evidence indicates that, despite some critical successes, current conservation approaches are not slowing the overall rate of biodiversity loss. The field of synthetic biology, which is capable of altering natural genomes with extremely precise editing, might offer the potential to resolve some intractable conservation problems (e.g., invasive species or pathogens). However, it is our opinion that there has been insufficient engagement by the conservation community with practitioners of synthetic biology. We contend that rapid, large-scale engagement of these two communities is urgently needed to avoid unintended and deleterious ecological consequences. To this point we describe case studies where synthetic biology is currently being applied to conservation, and we highlight the benefits to conservation biologists from engaging with this emerging technology.",

keywords = "biodiversity, conservation, synthetic biology",

author = "Piaggio, {Antoinette J.} and Gernot Segelbacher and Seddon, {Philip J.} and Luke Alphey and Bennett, {Elizabeth L.} and Carlson, {Robert H.} and Friedman, {Robert M.} and Dona Kanavy and Ryan Phelan and Redford, {Kent H.} and Marina Rosales and Lydia Slobodian and Keith Wheeler",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016",

year = "2017",

month = feb,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.tree.2016.10.016",

language = "English",

volume = "32",

pages = "97--107",

journal = "Trends in Ecology and Evolution",

issn = "0169-5347",