Led by Duke University researchers, the team argues that addressing climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss and economic instability will require innovations beyond the scope of biotechnology. Ecotech, short for ecosystem technology, provides a foundation for solutions drawn from the environment around us.

"Biotechnology has transformed health and society through innovation inspired by the inner workings of organisms. Ecotech takes off from where biotech ends, drawing on interactions between organisms and their environment to design technologies that work with nature rather than against it," says lead author Brian Silliman, Rachel Carson Distinguished Professor of Marine Conservation Biology at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.

In other words, by studying how species operate within, and are affected by, their environments, scientists can develop technologies that benefit people and nature.

"For example, ecotech principles could guide development of offshore wind farms that support marine life and commercial fisheries. The turbine support structures could be fashioned from coral-mimicking material to invite commercially important fish larvae to settle and grow," Silliman explains.