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Biodiversity, the building block of the form and function of ecosystems, is of high value due to the life-supporting services they provide. In India, biodiversity supports the livelihoods and ways of life for millions. With only 2.4% of the world's land area, India accounts for 7-8% of all recorded species due to its location at the tri-junction of the Afrotropical, Indo-Malayan and Palaearctic realms, all of which support rich biodiversity. However, the biodiversity of our megadiverse country is at stake due to several factors like climate change, deforestation and habitat loss, over-exploitation, invasive species and pollution.

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Anthropocene addresses how human activities are altering the Earth's ecosystems over time and space. Such alterations have profoundly affected the earth’s restoration capabilities and have implications for human survival and existence. As the scale and pace of human interactions with Earth systems have intensified in recent decades, understanding human-induced alterations in the past and present is critical to our ability to anticipate, mitigate, and adapt to changes in the future.

 

With alarm bells already ringing loud and clear, the 8th India Biodiversity Meet (IBM) is all set to bring to the discussion table the pertinent threats to biodiversity, food security, and climate change. IBM-2025 is expected to provide an excellent platform for experts and practitioners to join and share the outcomes of their research and discuss novel ideas on these issues.

Major themes

  • Biodiversity and Ecosystems

  • Mathematical Ecology & Epidemiology

  • Sustainable Agriculture

  • Climate Impact Assessment

  • Business-Biodiversity Links

  • Integrating Anthropology and Epigenetics

  • Human Dietary Changes and Nutrition

  • Human Reproductive and Behavioural Ecology

Biodiversity and Ecosystems

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has emerged as one of the central issues in environmental research during the last decade. Because ecosystems collectively regulate the Earth system, the potential ecological consequences of biodiversity loss have aroused considerable interest. Loss and fragmentation of natural habitats, overexploitation of plant and animal species, the impact of invasive alien species, and climate change create havoc on global biodiversity. IBM-2025 will attempt to understand patterns of biodiversity change in the light of the following:

  • Causes and consequences of Biodiversity loss (observational, experimental, and theoretical studies)

  • Biodiversity conservation

  • Community ecology

  • Chemical ecology

  • Spatiotemporal aspects of biodiversity patterns

Mathematical Ecology and Epidemiology

Ecology has entered a phase of development where the subject is approached by quantitative reasoning. This may occur through application of statistical models to theoretical questions in ecology, or it may be achieved through sophisticated use of statistical techniques for experimental design and hypothesis testing. At the end of the day, a fusion of these approaches is expected to comprehend the ecological theories and to answer the fundamental questions of this domain. The 8th IBM-2025 will thrive to showcase the state of art of these quantitative methods in the following arenas:

  • Mathematical/Statistical modelling on species sustainability

  • Epidemiological modelling of communicable disease

  • Statistical Methods in Evolutionary Genetics

  • Population demography and statistics

  • Spatial Data Handling (Remote sensing and GIS)

  • Species Distribution Modelling (SDM)

  • Survival analysis

  • Resource System Analysis

  • Wildlife Biometrics and Population Analysis

  • Mathematical modelling of biological system

  • Population Genetics

Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainable food production has never been more important - with the world population ever increasing, the environmental pressures on our planet have never been greater. The concept of sustainable agriculture embraces a wide range of techniques, including organic, free-range, low-input, holistic, and biodynamic crop production. Like previous years, IBM-2025 is focusing on recent developments towards sustainable agriculture practices in these sectors:

  • Agronomy and plant breeding

  • Biotechnology

  • Soil plant relationships

  • Plant and Environmental Health

  • Horticultural science

  • Livestock and Poultry Science

  • Land Use & Management

  • Agricultural Microbiology & Gene Technology

  • Agribusiness Sales and Applied Market Research

  • Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

  • Natural resource management

Climate Impact Assessment

Research on climate impacts has grown considerably in the past 5 years regarding the potential risk of damage associated with projected climate change and the vulnerabilities to climate change of a wide range of ecological systems. One of the major themes of IBM-2025 is to assess the sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability of natural and human systems to climate change, and the potential consequences of climate change on:

  • Changes in land use and land cover 

  • Terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems

  • Coastal Zones, groundwater, and marine Ecosystems

  • Human health

Business - Biodiversity Links

We live in an age where the importance of environmental and sustainability issues are more realized than ever before, but we are also faced with financial crisis and economic uncertainty. The Aichi target 4 highlights-“”. Though environmental and economic issues may appear to be very different and at odds with each other, they are actually deeply intertwined. In a logistic framework, a huge business opportunity lies in the collaboration of sustainability and the protection of biodiversity. There are many things that companies can do, and are doing, to creating a beneficial impact to the environment and to their bottom. This year, IBM is providing a platform, for the first time, to discuss the ideas and the following:

  • Biodiversity policy and law

  • Developing incentives, regulations and guidelines to encourage business development in sustainable production and consumption

  • Case studies of businesses taking actions

Integrating Anthropology and Epigenetics

Epigenetics in anthropology explores how environmental factors can alter gene expression, influencing human evolution, adaptation and culture. The interdisciplinary field sheds light on how lifestyle and social factors contribute to human diversity and health across generations. The dynamic interplay of genetics, culture and environmental factors creates a system where these interactions shape not only overall health and well-being but also our ability to adapt and thrive in diverse settings. These interactions vary across populations, contributing to the rich diversity of human biology and health. Understanding this intricate relationship is essential for addressing health disparities, promoting well-being and developing population-specific strategies tailored to India’s diverse ecological and cultural landscapes. So in summary, the subthemes of IBM-2025 in this domain are as follows:

  • Human diversity and population health

  • Cultural and Social Determinants of Health

  • Mental Health and Psychological Anthropology

Human Dietary Changes and Nutrition

In nutritional terms, humans are the sum total of their evolutionary history and more recent epigenetic and social past, as well as their present-day social, cultural and biological life histories. Human societies have undergone many transformations, most of which have included transitions in diet and nutritional health, and nutritional anthropologists have documented such changes in many societies. Some important subthemes of this field likely to be presented in the conference are:

  • Sustainable Diets and Food Security

  • Cultural and Regional Dietary Patterns

  • Food Technology and Innovation

  • Functional Foods and Nutritional Science

Human Reproductive and Behavioural Ecology

Reproductive health needs of human groups vary across ecological, social and political contexts. Biological Anthropologists have made significant contributions to understanding reproductive health from the perspective of reproductive ecology and behavioural ecology. While reproductive ecologists investigate how ecological factors (both biological and cultural) are closely associated with reproductive functions, behavioural ecologists examine how socioecological factors like social structure and available resources affect reproductive choices and procreative decisions. In each of these ecological circumstances, human beings adopt specific behaviour which acts as a regulatory mechanism to maximise their inclusive fitness.

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