Yolanda Chen: How People Shape Evolutionary Processes in Agroecosystems

Although agroecosystems now dominate the terrestrial world, we have a limited understanding of how their origin and culture shape agrobiodiversity and its functioning. By studying these processes in Mexico, a major center of crop origin, we have been focused on understanding how people shape agrobiodiversity and the implications for sustainable agriculture. Since seed systems structure how people acquire seeds, changes in social context influence evolutionary processes within agroecosystems. Since the middle of the 20th century, major changes have occurred that have effectively limited farmer selection for locally-adapted crops. We propose that smallholder farmers play a central but underappreciated role in the management of eco-evolutionary processes in agroecosystems, which form the basis for sustainable agriculture under changing climates.

Yolanda grew up in Illinois and New Jersey, where she developed a concern about human impacts on the natural world. As an undergraduate student, she majored in Natural Resource Management at Cook College, which was the Agricultural and Environmental School of Rutgers University. She helped start the two-acre Cook College Student Organic Farm, where she co-managed a group of student volunteers. After realizing that she was particularly interested in agroecology and insect-plant interactions, she did a Ph. D. in insect ecology in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley. After her Ph. D., she switched fields and did a postdoc in population genetics. In order to understand the role of science in sustainable development, she ran a research lab studying host plant resistance at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines for four years. She returned to the US to start a position at the University of Vermont, where she has held the position of Associate Professor since 2015.

Chen spoke at UVM on December 3rd, 2021. Read more about Yolanda: https://www.uvm.edu/cals/pss/profiles/associate-professor-yolanda-fanslow-chen

Learn more about the Gund Institute: https://www.uvm.edu/gund
Explore Gund events: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/events ​​​​