Bedoukian was excited to be a corporate sponsor of the 38th annual conference of the International Society of Chemical Ecology (ISCE) which was held in Bangalore, India from July 23-27. Members of the BedoukianBio team attended and participated in some of the significant educational sessions offered throughout the conference.
The theme for this year’s ISCE conference was Chemical Ecology in the Anthropocene. Climate change is impacting the entire world and the impact of climate change on the chemical ecology of species interactions is not well understood but very important for the future of the planet. It is likely that climate change will affect not only the viability of organisms but also chemical communication.
Professor Renee Borges, Organizing Secretary of the ISCE stated, “How organisms may cope with this distortion, and whether there is redundancy built into chemical signaling, is not at all understood. This field offers exciting challenges and problems that need urgent solutions, whether it be in crop pollination, pest control, soil fertility through mycorrhizal networks, or above-ground/below-ground feedback leading to plant productivity changes. Processes that influence planetary health in natural ecosystems are equally likely to be affected by urban and industrial runoff of atmospheric, terrestrial, and aquatic pollutants. Chemicals know no boundaries, which makes it more imperative that we understand their impacts.” The content of the conference was focused on these important topics.
Rodrigo Oliveira da Silva, Entomological Project Manager attended the event for BedoukianBio and had the following observations. “This event, and others like it, are important to drawing attention and building an understanding necessary for the future health of our planet. The impacts of climate change make headlines every day but rarely is the focus on chemical signaling. Since a healthy ecosystem requires all species to communicate, it is great that the ISCE enabled conference attendees to come away with this important understanding and also the latest advances in the chemical ecology field.”
