J Chem Ecol

DOI 10.1007/s10886-016-0813-9

New Frontiers for Chemical Ecology: Reaffirming a Commitment

Shannon B. Olsson 1 & The Bengaluru Consortium

# The Author(s) 2017. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com

In August 1989, members of the International Society for patrimony for food, health, and agriculture. During the meet-
Chemical Ecology (ISCE) assembled in Gteborg, Sweden ing, participants discussed what is needed to invigorate chem-
and unanimously adopted a resolution that still graces the ical ecology in understudied regions of the world such as
website of the ISCE today. The members expressed a India, and what these regions offer the field and its future.
determination to accelerate the search for new compounds They also discussed how members of the field can increase
from nature, and emphasized the need to focus on the collaborations and research for the preservation of the worlds
tropics, where biodiversity is highest. In a subsequent guest biodiversity, and promote the use of semiochemicals in agri-
editorial, Eisner and Meinwald (1990) suggested that a coor- culture, medicine, and industry. Specifically, participants
dinated effort across the world is necessary to build upon the hoped to offer a road map to reaffirm and reinvigorate the
Gteborg Resolution, involving representatives from industry, Gteborg Resolution, from which chemical ecology can be
academia, health, and government from both the developed recognized as a global field, embedded within and inspired
and developing world. by the biological diversity of our planet. This perspective pro-
Today, 27 years later, the ISCE has grown to hundreds of vides a summary of outcomes that emerged from the work-
members, and there are thriving regional chemical ecological shop discussions, which also have relevance to many large,
societies representing Latin America (ALAEQ) and the rapidly developing and biodiversity-rich countries worldwide,
Asian-Pacific region (APACE), among several others. Yet, such as Brazil, Kenya, and China.
despite this progress, there remains a paucity of chemical
ecologists from many biodiversity-rich regions around the Building Regional Capacity To increase collaboration and
world. This year, a workshop was held in Bengaluru, India, build capacity in regions where chemical ecology is not well
comprising scientists, students, and industry representatives established, direct interaction is needed between international
from 20 Indian states and 5 continents to address this very societies such as the ISCE and regional societies through joint
issue. India not only has a rich diversity of ecosystems, but meetings, social media interaction, and travel and training
also a long cultural history of utilizing its diverse chemical funding opportunities for promising scientists. Such efforts need
to be supported by funding agencies within these regions, initi-
ating specific grant programs for young investigators in the
Members of the Bengaluru Consortium: Shannon B. Olsson, Pardeep K.
Bhardwaj, Axel Brockmann, K. Chandrashekara, Jrgen Gross, Ally field. Financial support needs to be made available to establish
Harari, N. Kirk Hillier, Emmanuelle Jacquin-Joly, Veto Khesoh, Eraldo national societies, create advanced infrastructures, and facilitate
Lima, Christer Lfstedt, Frdric Marion-Poll, Bilal Ahmad Mir, Robert networking. Recent advances in information technology pro-
A. Raguso, Subecha Rai, Mousumi Poddar Sarkar, T. Seenivasagan, and
vide opportunities for open access databases featuring human,
R. Uma Shaanker.
chemical, biological, and technological resources and develop-
* Shannon B. Olsson
ments relevant to the field. While some chemical ecological
shannon@nice.ncbs.res.in databases exist, comprehensive international collections for the
field are not readily available. These resources would be invalu-
1
National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of able to burgeoning chemical ecology programs that might re-
Fundamental Research, Bangalore, India quire expert advice and assistance to establish themselves.
 J Chem Ecol

Harmonizing Chemical Ecology with Public Policy India need more international training courses, with hands-on train-
and other developing countries face important challenges re- ing and corresponding theory to create greater competence in
garding urbanization, environmental change, disease out- the field. Chemical ecology studies should also be encouraged
breaks, and food security, for which chemical ecological so- at introductory levels of education at which chemistry and
lutions must be both sought and tested. In particular, the field ecology are initially taught. Courses should include a focus
should encourage more strategic links between academia and on the development of taxonomic and natural products knowl-
public stakeholders so that the applied aspects of chemical edge in biodiverse regions, including indigenous knowledge,
ecology reflect the vision and direction of society in general. with outreach programmes for creating public awareness for
For example, chemical ecologists could collectively, through conservation of natural resources. Given the alarming reduc-
regional teams or international societies, promote the devel- tion of natural products chemistry as a viable field, an urgent
opment of public policy to conserve useful chemical resources call to promote the field for chemists is also proposed. The
and encourage policies for important societal concerns such as loss of interested and dedicated chemists would be disastrous
pollution detection, industrial effluents, and food residues. for the future of chemical ecology, where the bulk of natural
Chemical ecologists also should capitalize on hot spots for products, especially in the tropics, are yet to be discovered.
public concern in biodiverse regions, employing newspapers, The Indian workshop stimulated several specific discus-
social digital media, and the use of local languages where sions among the participants to increase collaborative efforts
possible. Identification of new semiochemicals in these re- in India, which we hope can serve other chemical ecology
gions can lead to biotechnological applications in chemical programs across the world. In the end, the most promising
industries, biomedical research, agriculture, forestry, conser- outcome of this exercise was a renewed enthusiasm to share
vation, and many others. Therefore, chemical ecology re- and learn experiences related to chemical ecology, promote
search also could serve as a driver for the development of this field, drive its progress, and expand its reach. Indeed, this
semiochemical technologies for a range of applications, in was the goal in 1989, and it is inspiring to note 27 years later
India and beyond. that this ethos is still a fundamental aspect of our field as its
reach extends across the globe.
Growing Chemical Ecology Through Education In devel-
oping regions, chemical ecology, or more specifically the
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative
chemical basis of biological interactions, is largely absent Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://
from basic science curricula in the country. In many cases creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
across the world, biodiversity hotspots are regions where uni- distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appro-
versity training is scarce, but increasing capacity for chemical priate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the
Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
ecology in these regions could leverage increased biodiversity
research and integrate local traditional and ecological knowl-
edge that in turn would benefit the field.
To do this, chemical ecologists need to generate a curricu- Reference
lum and leverage online media to accelerate learning world-
wide, including a tool for recruiting students and chemists. We Eisner T, Meinwald J (1990) Guest editorial. J Chem Ecol 16:643644