Neurobiology in Changing Environments

The rapid and unpredictable changes to the environment accelerated by human activity are impacting life at all levels in unprecedented and complex ways. The adaptive capacity of organismal nervous systems that evolved over millennia to sense and react to such changes is being severely tested. Gaining mechanistic insight into vulnerable points of neurobiological systems impacted by environmental change, as well as areas of resilience, is essential.

The Allen Discovery Center for Neurobiology in Changing Environments, led by Martin Tresguerres, Ph.D., and co-leaders Amro Hamdoun, Ph.D., and Dierdre Lyons, Ph.D., at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, will address this critical need in the rapidly changing ocean environments.

To investigate this frontier, the team will use cutting-edge transdisciplinary approaches, integrating genomic, physiological, behavioral, and field experiments in coral, snail, sea urchin, and fish systems. These holistic approaches and large data sets will catalyze research that bridges neurobiology and environmental science, guiding policymaking in restoration and conservation efforts globally.