Sandra Myrna Díaz

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Sandra Myrna Diáz 2019

Sandra Myrna Díaz (born October 27, 1961 in Bell Ville , Argentina ) is a biologist and professor of ecology . She is particularly recognized worldwide for her research on biodiversity and was included in the list of the ten most important personalities for science in 2019 by the journal Nature . She was also part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , which together with Al Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 . She also played an important role as Co-Chair of the Global Assessment Report of the World Biodiversity Council (IPBES), which was presented in Paris in May 2019 and attracted great attention because of its alarming findings on the threat to biodiversity.

Career

Sandra Díaz grew up in the province of Córdoba in Argentina and has been interested in biology for as long as she can remember. Her parents had a large garden and loved animals and plants. Her father kept bringing home wild animals such as baby owls and rabbits, which was not uncommon back then. Díaz studied biology at the National University of Cordoba and graduated in 1984. At the same university she also received her PhD in 1989. From 1985 to 1991 she was a research fellow at the Center for Ecology and Renewable Natural Resources . She then went to Sheffield University (Great Britain) as a postdoc to Philip Grime in the Comparative Plant Ecology unit . In 1993 she returned to the University of Córdoba, where she teaches, among other things, as a professor of community and ecosystem ecology. She is also a senior researcher at the Multidisciplinary Institute for Plant Biology IMBIV (Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal), a cooperation between the university and the national research organization CONICET.

Scientific focus and activities

Díaz specializes in biodiversity, ecosystem ecology and the role of plants, including how these are related to global environmental change. In particular, she imparted important knowledge about plant ecology and biological diversity and their relationship, for example, with land use and global change.

Her findings include that the particular combination of different organisms in an ecosystem and the role they play can tell us more about how the ecosystem works and how it is used than just the number of species. She also recognized the great importance of different functional traits of plants, which can occur in very similar species. These functional characteristics ( morphological , physiological , phenological ) determine ecological strategies and the way in which plants react to environmental factors, influence other trophic levels and influence the properties of the ecosystem. The variety of plant functional traits and their interplay has proven useful in addressing many important ecological questions at various levels, which has created a demand for standardized methods of measuring ecologically meaningful plant traits. Díaz played a leading role in developing the conceptual foundations and implementing a methodology that enables scientists in various parts of the world to systematically record and measure the functional characteristics present in the respective flora . This should make it possible to quantify the effects and benefits of the biological diversity of plants in an ecosystem and their use by humans in different ways (fuel, food, materials, etc.) and also their effectiveness in combating global warming, for example by capturing CO 2 present in the atmosphere .

Díaz is the founder and director of the international initiative Nucleus Diversus for diversity and sustainability, the main purpose of which is to conduct high-quality research in the areas of biodiversity, ecosystems and sustainability in response to socially relevant problems.

More recently, Díaz has been instrumental in promoting an interdisciplinary approach to biodiversity, including working with social scientists. Joint efforts with ecologists include building an international database of tens of thousands of plant species (TRY) established by the Global Communal Plant Initiative, of which she is a co-founder and co-director.

Again and again Díaz calls for more climate protection in interviews or on the Internet and criticizes that this is often not sufficiently pursued for economic reasons, even against better knowledge.

Honors and awards (selection)

Publications (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nature's 10. Retrieved February 19, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services - unedited advance version. May 2019, accessed on February 20, 2020 .
  3. ↑ ZEIT ONLINE: Biodiversity: One million species are threatened with extinction . In: The time . May 6, 2019, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed February 20, 2020]).
  4. ^ BP Trivedi: Profile of Sandra M. Diaz . In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . tape 109 , no. 29 , July 3, 2012, ISSN  0027-8424 , p. 11469–11471 , doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1210043109 ( pnas.org [accessed February 19, 2020]).
  5. ^ Joanne Chory and Sandra Myrna Díaz Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research - Press. In: Fundación Princesa de Asturias. Retrieved February 18, 2020 .
  6. ^ Sandra Myrna Díaz, the biology that investiga y defiende “la trama de la vida” before the crisis climática | Vidas científicas. July 11, 2019, accessed February 20, 2020 (Spanish).
  7. ↑ Núcleo Diversus. Retrieved February 22, 2020 (English).
  8. ↑ J Kattge, S Díaz, S Lavorel, IC Prentice, P Leadley: TRY - a global database of plant traits . In: Global Change Biology . tape 17 , no. 9 , April 26, 2011, ISSN  1354-1013 , p. 2905–2935 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1365-2486.2011.02451.x , PMC 3627314 (free full text).
  9. ^ Sandra Myrna Díaz, the biology that investiga y defiende “la trama de la vida” before the crisis climática | Vidas científicas. July 11, 2019, accessed February 20, 2020 (Spanish).
  10. ↑ Mar Centenera: Sandra Díaz: "Con este modo de producción nos estamos comiendo el futuro" . In: El País . June 12, 2019, ISSN  1134-6582 (Spanish, elpais.com [accessed February 20, 2020]).
  11. ↑ Alejandra Martins: "En América Latina estamos hipotecando nuestro patrimonio natural y ni siquiera damos de comer a todos": la bióloga argentina ganadora del Premio Princesa de Asturias . In: BBC News Mundo . October 18, 2019 (Spanish, bbc.com [accessed February 20, 2020]).
  12. ^ John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Sandra M. Díaz. Retrieved February 22, 2020 (American English).
  13. ^ The Cozzarelli Prize: | PNAS. Retrieved February 22, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Sandra Diaz. Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Sandra Myrna Díaz. In: Academia Nacional de Ciencias. September 18, 2017, accessed February 18, 2020 (European Spanish).
  16. ↑ Diaz, Sandra Myrna. Retrieved February 18, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Our Honorary Members. British Ecological Society, accessed February 22, 2020 (UK English).
  18. ↑ Dr. Sandra Díaz, Co-Chair of IPBES Global Assessment awarded 2017 Premi Ramon Margalef d'Ecologia | IPBES. Retrieved February 22, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Distinguished scientists elected as Fellows and Foreign Members of the Royal Society | Royal Society. Retrieved February 18, 2020 (UK English).
  20. Jump up ↑ Princess of Asturias Awards. In: Deutschlandfunk Kultur. October 18, 2019, accessed on February 18, 2020 (German).
  21. ↑ Joanne Chory y Sandra Myrna Díaz - Premiados - Premios Princesa de Asturias. In: Fundación Princesa de Asturias. Retrieved February 18, 2020 (Spanish).
  22. ↑ Gunnerus Award goes to expert on biodiversity. Retrieved February 18, 2020 .
  23. ↑ Merecido homenaje de la ciudad a una de sus hijas dilectas: Sandra Díaz. In: Municipalidad de Bell Ville. November 11, 2019, accessed February 20, 2020 (European Spanish).
personal data
SURNAME Díaz, Sandra Myrna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Díaz, Sandra
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Argentine biologist and biodiversity expert
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Bell Ville , Argentina