Irakli Loladze, PhD
Education:
- Postdoctoral, Princeton University
- PhD, Arizona State University
- MA, Arizona State University
- BA, Tbilisi State University
Background:
Irakli Loladze is a Mathematical Biologist. He obtained his MA and PhD degrees in mathematics at Arizona State University. He then worked as a postdoc at Princeton University, where in 2002 he postulated that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (CO2) decrease the concentrations of minerals essential for human nutrition, including iron and zinc, in crops and wild plants. After years of compiling peer-reviewed data from four continents, he published a meta-analysis that revealed a pervasive and systemic downshift in the levels of plant minerals worldwide. His research came to influence US policy and was highlighted by New Scientist, Nature, Science, and was covered in a two–times award winning Politico article. Loladze’s 2018 presentation at Cambridge University led to a collaborative work on the effects of rising CO2 concentrations on plant carotenoids critical for human retina and brain health. His recent publications can be found on Google Scholar and the list below.
Selected publications:
Isanta‐Navarro, J., Prater, C., Peoples, L. M., Loladze, I., Phan, T., Jeyasingh, P. D., Church, M.J., Kuang, Y., Elser, J. J. (2022). Revisiting the growth rate hypothesis: Towards a holistic stoichiometric understanding of growth. Ecology letters.
Phan, T., He, C., Loladze, I., Prater, C., Elser, J., & Kuang, Y. (2022). Dynamics and growth rate implications of ribosomes and mRNAs interaction in E. coli. Heliyon, 8(7), e09820.
Wang, W., Loladze, I., Wang, J., Han, Y., Gu, J., Zhang, H., Liu, L., Wang, J., Xu, Y., Zhang, W. and Wang, Z., 2022. Improving the accuracy of meta-analysis for datasets with missing measures of variance: Elevated CO2 effect on plant growth as a case study. Science of The Total Environment, 806, p.150669.
Ben Mariem, S., Soba, D., Zhou, B., Loladze, I., Morales, F. and Aranjuelo, I., 2021. Climate Change, Crop Yields, and Grain Quality of C3 Cereals: A Meta-Analysis of CO2, Temperature, and Drought Effects. Plants, 10(6), p.1052.
Ebi, K.L., Anderson, C.L., Hess, J.J., Kim, S.H., Loladze, I., Neumann, R.B., Singh, D., Ziska, L. and Wood, R., 2021. Nutritional quality of crops in a high CO2 world: an agenda for research and technology development. Environmental Research Letters, 16(6), p.064045.
Zhang, X., Xu, D., Han, W., Wang, Y., Fan, X., Loladze, I., Gao, G., Zhang, Y., Tong, S. and Ye, N., 2021. Elevated CO2 affects kelp nutrient quality: A case study of Saccharina japonica from CO2‐enriched coastal mesocosm systems. Journal of Psychology, 57(1), pp.379-391.
Loladze, I., Nolan, J. , Ziska, L.W., Knobbe, A. (2019) Rising atmospheric CO2 lowers concentrations of plant carotenoids essential to human health: Meta-analysis. Molecular nutrition & food research, 1801047 DOI:10.1002/mnfr.201801047
Ebi, K. L., & Loladze, I. (2019). Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations and climate change will affect our food's quality and quantity. The Lancet Planetary Health, 3(7), e283-e284. Chicago, Open-Access (PDF)
Loladze, I. (2019) Iterative chemostat: A modelling framework linking biosynthesis to nutrient cycling on ecological and evolutionary time scales. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 16(2): 990-1004. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2019046, PDF
Zhu, C., Kobayashi, K., Loladze, I., Zhu, J., Jiang, Q., Xu, X., Ebi, K.L., … Ziska, L. H. (2018). Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels this century will alter the protein , micronutrients , and vitamin content of rice grains with potential health consequences for the poorest rice-dependent countries. Science Advances, 4(5), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaq1012 (PDF), media coverage: Scientific American, National Post, Washington Post, and other media outlets)
Loladze, I., Nolan, J. M., Ziska, L., & Knobbe, A. (2018). Rising atmospheric CO2 tends to lower carotenoid levels in plants: Can the global decline in dietary carotenoids affect human vision and memory? J of Alzheimer's Disease (Vol. 64, pp. 1042–1042). Ios Press Nieuwe Hemweg 6B, 1013 Bg Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Ziska, Lewis; Crimmins, Allison; Auclair, Allan; DeGrasse, Stacey; Garofalo, Jada F; Khan, Ali S; Loladze, Irakli; Pérez de León, Adalberto A; Showler, Allan; Thurston, Jeanette; Walls, Isabel (2016) Ch. 7: Food Safety, Nutrition, and Distribution. The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment. Washington, DC: U.S. Global Change Research Program. doi:10.7930/J0ZP4417. (PDF)
Ziska LH, Pettis JS, Edwards J, Hancock JE, Tomecek, MB, Clark A, Dukes JS, Loladze I, Polley HW (2016) Rising atmospheric CO2 is reducing the protein concentration of a floral pollen source essential for North American bees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Deng Q, Hui D, Luo Y, Elser J, Wang YP, Loladze I, Zhang Q, Dennis S (2015) Down‐regulation of tissue N:P ratios in terrestrial plants by elevated CO2. Ecology, 96:3354-62.
Loladze, I. (2014) "Hidden shift of the ionome of plants exposed to elevated CO2 depletes minerals at the base of human nutrition" eLife doi:10.7554/eLife.02245 (F1000 Primary rating: Exceptional: Körner C: F1000Prime Recommendation of [Loladze I, elife 2014 3:e02245]. In F1000Prime, 31 Jul 2014; doi: 10.3410/f.718432028.793497713,
media coverage: Fountain Ink, Politico, The Great Nutrient Collapse; TV Interview; related: TEDx talk)
Elser, J.J., Loladze, I., Peace, A.L., Kuang, Y. (2012) Lotka re-loaded: Modeling trophic interactions under stoichiometric constraints. Ecological Modeling, 245, 3–1, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2012.02.006
Loladze, I. and Elser J.J. (2011) The origins of the Redfield nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratio are in a homoeostatic protein-to-rRNA ratio, Ecology Letters, 14, 244-250 (Editor’s Choice, Science) (PDF)
Loladze, I., Kuang, Y., Elser, J.J. & Fagan, W.F. (2004) Competition and Stoichiometry: Coexistence of two predators on one prey. Theoretical Population Biology 65: 1-15
Loladze, I. (2002) Rising CO2 and human nutrition: toward globally imbalanced plant stoichiometry? Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 17, 457-461 (covered by New Scientist)
Loladze, I., Kuang, Y. Elser, J.J. (2000) Stoichiometry in producer-grazer systems: linking energy flow with element cycling, Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 62, 1137-1162
Professional Service and Recognition:
The Teaching Council of the UNL Award (2006, 2007, 2008)
