Professor Dr Ian Thomas Baldwin

Research Priorities: Ecology, nature observation, molecular genetics, environmental and agricultural research, pest infestation, predators, herbivores
Ian Thomas Baldwin is a US American ecologist. His particular scientific achievement is connecting nature observation and molecular genetics. In this new research approach, he combines ecology, the studies of organisms and their survival in a specific environment, and the identification and study of individual gene functions. His work results form the basis for modern environmental and agricultural research.
In his research approach, Ian Baldwin combines field experiments with molecular biology, thus bringing together the research branch of molecular and cell biology with that of ecology and evolutionary biology. Against this background, he formulates hypotheses on how and why plants in nature survive despite pest infestation. He wants to find out which genetic characteristics play a role here. Furthermore, he investigates how chemicals control the interaction between living organisms and their environment. In his studies, he focuses on the interaction between plants and their predators (herbivores).
Baldwin has developed a molecular and analytical “toolbox”, which his team use in a natural habitat in the Great Basin Desert in the USA for studying a wild tobacco species as well as genetically modified plants with the aim of discovering the plants’ natural resistance to pests. This extensive programme allowed the scientists to discover genetic and biochemical mechanisms that make the plants resistant to predators. They also uncovered the ideal conditions for the formation of seeds.
Ian Thomas Balwin advocates the idea of promoting a “feeling for the organism” when training biologists and supports initiatives for open access to scientific publications. He is Senior Editor of the open-access journal “eLife”. From 2015 to 2019, he was a Highly Cited Researcher (HCR).