Biodiversity is in decline. That much is known. What is less understood — and what Richard Keim has dedicated his work to — is how we might use the tools of our technological age not to replace nature, but to support it.
"Biodiversity may be declining, but it is the foundation of everything that we eat, drink and breathe," Keim explains. "Without biodiversity there to support us, it's crucial for us to pay attention and work hard to develop ways to listen and learn and manage natural resources for the future."
It is a message that cuts to the heart of one of the great tensions of our time: the sense that technology is pulling us further from the natural world, even as it offers new means of understanding it.
"Technology makes us feel separate from ecosystems," Keim acknowledges, "but we're not." The challenge, as he sees it, is to channel technological capability back toward the ecosystems we depend on. “What we can do is use our technological skills to feed back into the ecosystems and help us to ensure their sustainability.”
Forests as living laboratories
At LIST, this philosophy takes a very tangible form. Researchers venture directly into forests — not merely to sample or survey, but to treat these ecosystems as living laboratories where nature can be observed both from afar and up close.
"At LIST, I'm very proud that we have a science mission that takes us to the forest to make measurements," Keim says. It is a commitment that reflects a broader conviction: that even in an era of big data and artificial intelligence, direct observation remains irreplaceable.
"We live in a world of big data where we have artificial intelligence and we have huge models to help us interpret things that we've already observed about the world. But we still need to go and observe and see those things for ourselves."
This is where LIST's particular strength comes into its own. One of the key challenges in natural science, Keim notes, is simply "getting the right data about the right thing." LIST's answer lies in combining disciplines that too often remain siloed.
“One of the things that LIST is very good at is combining our natural science expertise with our technological science expertise. We're able to design new kinds of sensors and obtain new kinds of data — and these are going to give us new insights into how the world works.”
Supporting nature so it can support us
Underlying all of this work is a guiding principle that Keim articulates with quiet conviction. The purpose of listening to nature is not mastery or control — it is stewardship.
"The goal of listening to nature is not to find ways to control it, but to find ways to support it so that it can support us."
In a research landscape often shaped by grand technological ambition, it is a refreshingly humble vision — and perhaps the most important one of all.
Richard Keim was on the stage of Voices of Innovation, LIST's annual flagship event, highlighting researchers and their work at the frontier of science and society.