Synthesis centers on biodiversity and ecosystem services aim at finding solutions for society

At a webinar organized by BIOTA-FAPESP and SinBiose, experts from the US and Canada described their experience in synthesis science and suggested ways of strengthening the approach in Brazil.

By André Julião  |  Agência FAPESP – Making science more collaborative and capable of offering solutions to environmental problems is one of the main aims of synthesis science centers on biodiversity and ecosystem services. To discuss the challenges and potential of this kind of synthesis science for Brazil, the FAPESP Research Program on Biodiversity Characterization, Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use (BIOTA-FAPESP) and the Center for Synthesis in Research on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (SinBiose) brought together the heads of similar institutions in the United States and Canada for an exchange of views and data. The webinar took place on October 4, 2021. A recording can be watched on YouTube.

“The BIOTA Program, created by FAPESP some 20 years ago, has been a very successful initiative to glean a better understanding of how biodiversity is distributed, not only across the state of São Paulo but also in Brazil and worldwide. This synthesis initiative may not be new to the world but it’s entirely novel for us in Brazil, and we have a lot to learn,” said Luiz Eugênio Mello, FAPESP’s Scientific Director, in his opening remarks.

Synthesis science integrates the research findings of different centers to advance scientific knowledge and address societal problems via the engagement of communities and government bodies (more at: agencia.fapesp.br/29016). 

For Evaldo Vilela, President of Brazil’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), there is a “crucial gap” between science and decision makers, and synthesis science is a promising way to bridge it. CNPq is the agency responsible for SinBiose, the first center of its kind in the tropics.

“This is a great opportunity to present synthesis science to the Brazilian scientific community and discuss its significance for academia and society. This discussion is very important to advance the frontiers of science and build bridges between science and decision making. SinBiose aims to play this role in the area of biodiversity and ecosystem services,” he said.

In partnership with SinBiose and two French institutions – the Center for Biodiversity Synthesis and Analysis (CESAB) and the Center for the Study of Biodiversity in Amazonia (LABEX-CEBA) – BIOTA-FAPESP has issued a call for proposals to organize scientific meetings on synthesis working groups. The call will remain open until December 10.

Working groups

Diane Srivastava, Director of the Canadian Institute for Ecology and Evolution (CIEE) and a professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), spoke about scientific working groups as a tool for understanding problems to be solved and described how synthesis centers can organize them. “A scientific working group is simply a group of people who meet together, have diverse skills and knowledge, and work collaboratively to synthesize data or ideas in order to advance science,” she said. 

“They have several key elements. I’d like to emphasize synergy. You’re bringing together different kinds of knowledge and skills, and there’s synergy when you do that. I’d also like to emphasize synthesis, which is integrating and synthesizing existing data or concepts. Last but not least, the question you’re trying to answer is also important.”

CIEE’s activities include a program that is rehabilitating commercial fish populations off the coast of Newfoundland in eastern Canada, where the local economy is struggling to bounce back from the adverse effects of Atlantic cod overfishing. 

Synthesis science aims above all to find solutions to the problems of cities, drainage basins and communities. It does not necessarily aim to publish articles. Even so, Ben Halpern, Director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in the United States, presented the results of a literature review showing that articles on ecology and related topics produced by synthesis centers have five times higher citation rate than articles by non-synthesis scientists. 

“We’re having a really big influence in the field,” he said. “Synthesis papers often launch entire areas of research. We also have examples of papers that helped pivot or change the direction of a research trajectory. In other cases, this type of research brings together data to answer questions that have long been debated and can be resolved through synthesis.”

For the mediator of the webinar, Jean Paul Metzger, a member of BIOTA-FAPESP’s steering committee and a professor at the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Biosciences (IB-USP), the discussion also covered how to contribute to sustainable changes in scientific practice and to the training of new generations of researchers by promoting a more collaborative way of doing science. “All these topics are particularly relevant to the Brazilian context,” he said.

“All the advice we can get is highly stimulating and takes us closer to our prime goal, which is getting this kind of research established in Brazil,” said Carlos Alfredo Joly, a professor at the University of Campinas’s Institute of Biology (IB-UNICAMP) and also a member of BIOTA-FAPESP’s steering committee.

The call for synthesis science working group proposals is at: fapesp.br/14906. A recording of the webinar (in English) can be watched at: youtu.be/xWUnn6XeIis.