Globalization and Biology; The Role of Coevolution in the Process of Global Change

If we think of globalization as a process that has been under way for at least ten millennia, we can see the importance of biological forces in the process. The interconnectedness of biology and globalization is best captured by the concept of coevolution. By means of coevolution, a number of global life systems have emerged that incorporate human beings, a small number of plant and animal species domesticated for food and other purposes, and a rather larger set of microbial species. These latter have entered human populations as companions of our food supply (for example, influenza and smallpox) or as a consequence of other human activities that were part of globalization, such as war, trade, and long distance migration (for example, the bubonic plague and AIDS). The coevolution paradigm helps us predict the future development of epidemics, but in the case of the AIDS pandemic, now entering its third decade, the future is still unclear.