Open AccessJournal Article
Anthropogenic transformation of the terrestrial biosphere
TLDR
In this article, the Earth system has entered a new geological epoch, spatially explicit global estimates of human populations and their use of land were analysed across the Holocene for their potential to induce irreversible novel transformation of the terrestrial biosphere.Abstract:
Human populations and their use of land have transformed most of the terrestrial biosphere into anthropogenic biomes (anthromes), causing a variety of novel ecological patterns and processes to emerge. To assess whether human populations and their use of land have directly altered the terrestrial biosphere sufficiently to indicate that the Earth system has entered a new geological epoch, spatially explicit global estimates of human populations and their use of land were analysed across the Holocene for their potential to induce irreversible novel transformation of the terrestrial biosphere. Human alteration of the terrestrial biosphere has been significant for more than 8000 years. However, only in the past century has the majority of the terrestrial biosphere been transformed into intensively used anthromes with predominantly novel anthropogenic ecological processes. At present, even were human populations to decline substantially or use of land become far more efficient, the current global extent, duration, type and intensity of human transformation of ecosystems have already irreversibly altered the terrestrial biosphere at levels sufficient to leave an unambiguous geological record differing substantially from that of the Holocene or any prior epoch. It remains to be seen whether the anthropogenic biosphere will be sustained and continue to evolve.read more
Citations
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Global effects of land use on local terrestrial biodiversity
Tim Newbold,Lawrence N. Hudson,Samantha L. L. Hill,Sara Contu,Igor Lysenko,Rebecca A. Senior,Luca Börger,Dominic J. Bennett,Argyrios Choimes,Ben Collen,Julie Day,Adriana De Palma,Sandra Díaz,Susy Echeverría-Londoño,Melanie J. Edgar,Anat Feldman,Morgan Garon,Michelle L K Harrison,Tamera I Alhusseini,Daniel J. Ingram,Yuval Itescu,Jens Kattge,Victoria Kemp,Lucinda Kirkpatrick,Michael Kleyer,David L P Correia,Callum D. Martin,Shai Meiri,Maria Novosolov,Yuan Pan,Helen Phillips,Drew W. Purves,Alexandra N Robinson,Jake Simpson,Sean L. Tuck,Evan Weiher,Hannah J. White,Robert M. Ewers,Georgina M. Mace,Jörn P. W. Scharlemann,Andy Purvis +40 more
TL;DR: A terrestrial assemblage database of unprecedented geographic and taxonomic coverage is analysed to quantify local biodiversity responses to land use and related changes and shows that in the worst-affected habitats, pressures reduce within-sample species richness by an average of 76.5%, total abundance by 39.5% and rarefaction-based richness by 40.3%.
Journal ArticleDOI
Approaching a state shift in Earth’s biosphere
Anthony D. Barnosky,Elizabeth A. Hadly,Jordi Bascompte,Eric L. Berlow,James H. Brown,Mikael Fortelius,Wayne M. Getz,John Harte,Alan Hastings,Pablo A. Marquet,Neo D. Martinez,Arne Ø. Mooers,Peter D. Roopnarine,Geerat J. Vermeij,John W. Williams,Rosemary G. Gillespie,Justin Kitzes,Charles R. Marshall,Nicholas J. Matzke,David P. Mindell,Eloy Revilla,Adam B. Smith +21 more
TL;DR: Evidence that the global ecosystem as a whole is approaching a planetary-scale critical transition as a result of human influence is reviewed, highlighting the need to improve biological forecasting by detecting early warning signs of critical transitions.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical perspectives
TL;DR: In this article, the Anthropocene epoch has been formally recognized as a new epoch in Earth history, arguing that the advent of the Industrial Revolution around 1800 provides a logical start date for the new epoch.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene
Colin N. Waters,Jan Zalasiewicz,Colin Summerhayes,Anthony D. Barnosky,Clément Poirier,Agnieszka Gałuszka,Alejandro Cearreta,Matt Edgeworth,Erle C. Ellis,Michael A. Ellis,Catherine Jeandel,Reinhold Leinfelder,John Robert McNeill,Daniel Richter,Will Steffen,James P. M. Syvitski,Davor Vidas,Michael Wagreich,Mark Williams,An Zhisheng,Jacques Grinevald,Eric O. Odada,Naomi Oreskes,Alexander P. Wolfe +23 more
TL;DR: C climatic, biological, and geochemical signatures of human activity in sediments and ice cores, Combined with deposits of new materials and radionuclides, as well as human-caused modification of sedimentary processes, the Anthropocene stands alone stratigraphically as a new epoch beginning sometime in the mid–20th century.
Journal ArticleDOI
Used planet: a global history.
Erle C. Ellis,Jed O. Kaplan,Dorian Q. Fuller,Steve Vavrus,Kees Klein Goldewijk,Peter H. Verburg +5 more
TL;DR: Recent scientific evidence and theory is synthesized to explain why relatively small human populations likely caused widespread and profound ecological changes more than 3,000 y ago, whereas the largest and wealthiest human populations in history are using less arable land per person every decade.
References
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Gian-Reto Walther,Eric Post,Peter Convey,Annette Menzel,Camille Parmesan,Trevor J. C. Beebee,Jean-Marc Fromentin,Ove Hoegh-Guldberg,Franz Bairlein +8 more
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Journal ArticleDOI
Human Domination of Earth's Ecosystems
TL;DR: Human alteration of Earth is substantial and growing as discussed by the authors, between one-third and one-half of the land surface has been transformed by human action; the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has increased by nearly 30 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution; more atmospheric nitrogen is fixed by humanity than by all natural terrestrial sources combined; more than half of all accessible surface fresh water is put to use by humanity; and about one-quarter of the bird species on Earth have been driven to extinction.
Journal ArticleDOI
Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Biodiversity
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that the term "fragmentation" should be reserved for the breaking apart of habitat, independent of habitat loss, and that fragmentation per se has much weaker effects on biodiversity that are at least as likely to be positive as negative.
Journal ArticleDOI
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TL;DR: Given their current scale, biotic invasions have taken their place alongside human-driven atmospheric and oceanic alterations as major agents of global change and left unchecked, they will influence these other forces in profound but still unpredictable ways.