Terraforming earth’s ecosystems
- Autores: Blai Vidiella Rocamora
- Directores de la Tesis: Josep Sardanyés Cayuela (dir. tes.), Ricard Vicente Sole (codir. tes.), Núria Conde Pueyo (codir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universitat Pompeu Fabra ( España ) en 2022
- Idioma: inglés
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Santiago F. Elena (presid.), Jordi García-Ojalvo (secret.), Sonia Kéfi (voc.)
- Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Biomedicina por la Universidad Pompeu Fabra
- Materias:
- Enlaces
- Tesis en acceso abierto en: TDX
- Resumen
We are living in a rapidly changing world due to the Anthropocene: the epoch where humans are pushing ecosystems towards tipping points or even having caused their collapse (extinction of species, deforestation, etc). Our activity is exceeding the planetary boundaries, rising the temperatures and polluting the biomes. Two relevant cases are the pollution with plastics (plastisphere) and the arid ecosystems that are currently increasing with the global warming. In this thesis, we have used theoretical and computational approaches to understand how these ecosystems are responding to these perturbations. We have focused on the characterization of transients close to tipping points and proposed how collapses could be avoided. One option is to directly take advantage of the delays to perform interventions able to sustain the ecosystem. Another, and more novel one, is the Terraformation strategy, consisting in the introduction of microorganisms engineered with capabilities to improve the ecosystem state.
