Showing papers in "Anthropocene in 2016"

TL;DR: In a recent study, this paper found that plastic particles are abundant and widespread in marine sedimentary deposits in both shallow and deep-water settings, and their distribution in both the terrestrial and marine realms suggests that they are a key geological indicator of the Anthropocene, as a distinctive stratal component.

TL;DR: The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was the largest in US history, unprecedented for the depth and volume of oil released, the amount of dispersants applied, and the unexpected, protracted sedimentation of oil-associated marine snow (MOS) to the seafloor.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated a sample of heavily contaminated surface soil from a site 20 km northwest of the F1NPP and isolated four radioactive particles from the surrounding soil These particles had a maximum particle area equivalent diameter of 64μm and a maximum 137Cs radioactivity of 675 −± −01 −Bq per particle They were larger than the particles identified in aerosol samples shortly after the accident at a location 170 km southwest of the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight the need to recognize and manage the spatial connections between protected areas and their surroundings, resolving the challenge of managing for biodiversity in situations of conflict and poor governance, understanding and providing for the reliance of the poor on ecosystem goods and services in times of crisis.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a perspective of the current state of the art in remote sensing of anthropogenic land cover and human-modified landscapes at global scales, and compare size distributions of spatially contiguous land cover (rather than total area) for several global land cover products.

TL;DR: A comparison of frequency distributions of 14C dates from North America and Australia to modeled estimates of historical population growth for these continents from the HYDE 3.1 database shows similarities, providing confidence in long-term estimates of population growth using both methods.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore an integrative research framework to couple post-fire fluvial and human processes, and provide an illustrative case with intense human interactions, both during and after the fire, to formulate critical questions within the integrative framework.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors use pollen and geochemical analyses from lake sediments in central Italy along with archival records to analyze landscape change for the last 1400 years, including the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and the Little Ice Age (LIA).

TL;DR: The Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics Project (MedLand) as discussed by the authors ) is a hybrid simulation environment that couples models of small-holder farming and herding, landscape evolution, and vegetation change managed through an interaction model.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate stone walls in five towns in Connecticut, USA, using airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), field measurements, surficial geology maps, and historic agricultural census data.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the general spatial-temporal trends of fire in the region between 2001 and 2013, and implemented statistical models to measure the relative impact of precipitation and anti-deforestation policies on both fire events and burned area over the time period.

TL;DR: In this article, sediment fingerprinting approaches quantified the source of radiocesium contaminated sediment in the Mano and Niida coastal catchments were used to determine the contribution of upstream, more contaminated areas to sediment transiting the more densely populated coastal plain.

TL;DR: In this paper, a test of the stability of pollen-vegetation relationships using vegetation and pollen data from the Midwestern region of the United States, during a period of large changes in land use and vegetation driven by Euro-American settlement was performed.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight the role of context-based, hybrid, and limited environmental knowledge and risk knowledge systems and cultures in small island developing states (SIDS) and demonstrate that significant challenges remain for Caribbean SIDS.

TL;DR: Results support the hypothesis of overharvesting during Cal times, suggest that modern oysters retain the capacity for growth, and indicate that aboriginal activity did not result in a permanent microevolutionary shift.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors develop the physical basis of agency or purposiveness in the technosphere as part of an analysis of the organizational requirements of energy-dissipating systems.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluated the occurrence and distribution of an artificial radionuclide, cesium-137 (137Cs), in coastal sediments of the South Atlantic Ocean through analysis of a large number of sediment cores covering a wide latitudinal band (0°-35°S).

TL;DR: In this article, a chronology for human activity on upland areas during the Bronze Age across southwest Britain (Dartmoor, Exmoor and Bodmin Moor) was developed, and the authors found that Bronze Age activity in these areas spanned 3900-2950 calendar years with abandonment by 2900 calendar years ago.

TL;DR: In this article, the first generations of Norse settlers in the 9th and 10th centuries experienced a significant reduction in forest cover and soil loss to erosion in Iceland, and the large-scale, islandwide process of erosion manifested in different ways that become clear when changes in soil cover are investigated at the regional scale.

TL;DR: In this article, the prevalence of fire-sensitive to fire-adapted taxa in the pollen record can help distinguish periods when vegetation does not respond as expected to climate change.

TL;DR: In this article, a multidisciplinary approach was used to discriminate natural and human-induced changes in a shallow coastal lagoon near Punta del Este, Uruguay, using a multi-disciplinary approach.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the effect of decadal changes in alkalinity driven by fresh water influx from the Nile River before and after its damming, as well as the impact of this change on OA of the South-East Mediterranean (SE-Med) shelf.

TL;DR: In this paper, adaptation research with the Anangu of the Alinytjara Wilurara region in South Australia is critically reviewed through the lens of socio-ecological theory, and a social learning approach successfully integrated local Indigenous and external knowledge to identify biophysical vulnerabilities, and generated risk narratives that are helping to guide spatial and systemic adaptation planning on heatwave, wildfire and bushfood management.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose impact and restoration scenarios, which build upon earlier conceptions of stabilization wedges, as conceptual tools with which to frame policy responses to the carbon and climate problem, and weigh tradeoffs between nearer-term mitigation measures and longer-term carbon dioxide removal (CDR) interventions.