What is spacetime?How do we perceive this medium?How can we fit it into our everyday linear lives?How can we situate ourselves within it in our post-industrial worldview,in an unsustainable world?This philosophical es...What is spacetime?How do we perceive this medium?How can we fit it into our everyday linear lives?How can we situate ourselves within it in our post-industrial worldview,in an unsustainable world?This philosophical essay adopts a phenomenological method to interrogate the meaning of this fundamental dimension of reality.Spacetime is interpreted not merely as a physical structure but as a plastic field whose instability shapes inner and social life.Yet the contemporary human condition is marked by a profound alienation,much of which derives from a self-inflicted existential disorientation:I once chose exile and moved to a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean,becoming my own research material.In search of genuine contact with nature,the nonverbal appeared as a necessity.I turned to music as an archetypal language,in the Romantic sense of a medium offering pre-conceptual access to the real.I composed Light Atlas,a six-movement work aiming to capture the flight of seagulls and the eternal struggle between light and darkness.This led me back to physics,to my original question:the lived perception of spacetime.展开更多
The conversion of forests to pastures is the most important human intervention that has shaped the natural landscape into the Anthropocene environment.The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP),which has both forest drought-lines...The conversion of forests to pastures is the most important human intervention that has shaped the natural landscape into the Anthropocene environment.The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP),which has both forest drought-lines and alpine treelines with specific ecotone structures,including isolated trees in treeless plant-covers that represent ever existed forest cover according to‘Lonely Tooth Hypothesis’,offers an excellent model in which to examine the extent and timing of human activity on the conversion of forest to pasture.The objectives of this paper are to review(1)palaeo-environmental records of the Early Holocene that indicate when forests were first converted to‘alpine meadows’,and(2)current records of the changing treeline ecotone in the region.‘Alpine meadows’of the QTP are part of the largest conversion of mountain forests into pastures worldwide.This change in forest cover is possibly a consequence of the agro-pastoral transition and the dawn of the Anthropocene on the QTP.To date,however,there is an interdisciplinary gap in knowledge of 5000 years between the palaeo-ecological and the archaeolocical and zoo-archaeological records.Rapid changes of the rural economy and the exodus from remote highland villages to down-country cities have diminished the age-old impacts of summer grazing and pasture management by fire;reforestation is obvious,but often seen exclusively as an effect of Anthropocene global warming.We believe that more interdisciplinary collaborations on the QTP are necessary to increase our understanding of the treelines of the Anthropocene in High Asia.展开更多
In a high-profile vote in March 2024,an international scientific committee chose not to support designating a new geological epoch,the Anthropocene[1].Prior to this somewhat unexpected decision,scientists spent 15 yea...In a high-profile vote in March 2024,an international scientific committee chose not to support designating a new geological epoch,the Anthropocene[1].Prior to this somewhat unexpected decision,scientists spent 15 years gathering abundant evidence for a shift in the geological timescale that would acknowledge humankind’s accelerating impact on the Earth,which they argued has already left a distinctive mark in the planet’s geological strata.While some will continue to work for formal recognition of the Anthropocene Epoch,others say the concept remains useful whether it is integrated into the official geological time scale or not[2].展开更多
Despite the massive efforts that have been made to conserve plant diversity across the world during the past few decades, it is becoming increasingly evident that our current strategies are not sufficiently effective ...Despite the massive efforts that have been made to conserve plant diversity across the world during the past few decades, it is becoming increasingly evident that our current strategies are not sufficiently effective to prevent the continuing decline in biodiversity. As a recent report by the CBD indicates,current progress and commitments are insufficient to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets by 2020.Threatened species lists continue to grow while the world's governments fail to meet biodiversity conservation goals. Clearly, we are failing in our attempts to conserve biodiversity on a sufficient scale.The reasons for this situation are complex, including scientific, technical, sociological, economic and political factors. The conservation community is divided about how to respond. Some believe that saving all existing biodiversity is still an achievable goal. On the other hand, there are those who believe that we need to accept that biodiversity will inevitably continue to be lost, despite all our conservation actions and that we must focus on what to save, why and where. It has also been suggested that we need a new approach to conservation in the face of the challenges posed by the Anthropocene biosphere which we now inhabit. Whatever view one holds on the above issues, it is dear that we need to review the effectiveness of our current conservation strategies, identify the limiting factors that are preventing the Aichi goals being met and at the same time take whatever steps are necessary to make our conservation protocols more explicit, operational and efficient so as to achieve the maximum conservation effect. This paper addresses the key issues that underlie our failure to meet agreed targets and discusses the necessary changes to our conservation approaches. While we can justifiably be proud of our many achievements and successes in plant conservation in the past 30 years, which have helped slow the rate of loss, unless we devise a more coherent, consistent and integrated global strategy in which both the effectiveness and limitations of our current policies, action plans and procedures are recognized, and reflect this in national strategies, and then embark on a much bolder and ambitious set of actions,progress will be limited and plant diversity will continue to decline.展开更多
The world is changing at an accelerating pace due to increased human exploitation of the earth’s resources and the consequent climate change and biodiversity loss crises.As a transdisciplinary discipline studying the...The world is changing at an accelerating pace due to increased human exploitation of the earth’s resources and the consequent climate change and biodiversity loss crises.As a transdisciplinary discipline studying the coupled human and nature systems and their interactions,Geography has natural advantages to promote sustainable development.With the aim of stimulating sustainable development in the Anthropocene,the International Geography and Sustainability Workshop 2021 was held virtually during 23-24 November 2021.This editorial briefly reviews the development history of Geography,summarizes the presentations of keynote speakers,outlines the overall research framework,and discusses the future directions by which the discipline of Geography can be harnessed to advance sustainable development.The key outcomes are as follows:(1)The research paradigms of Geography are shifting from basic knowledge acquisition to understanding of coupling patterns and processes,and to the simulation and prediction of complex human-earth systems;(2)Landscape sustainability science and the metacoupling concept are emerging as new comprehensive research perspectives,and the framework of“Pattern—Process—Service—Sustainability”can be used as a basis to underpin Geography’s role in sustainability;(3)Geography can support sustainable development in many ways,such as in agricultural development,disaster and risk monitoring and early warning,global climate change mitigation,and in helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).Future research directions include:integrated geographical research on climate change and sustainable resource utilization;integrated geographical research on social and economic sustainable development;sustainable cascades of ecosystem structure,functions,services,and human well-being;metacoupling for sustainability;safe and justice space boundaries;the classification-coordination-collaboration approach;and geographical education for sustainable development.展开更多
Ongoing uncertainty over the relative importance of aerosol transmission of COVID-19 is in part rooted in the history of medical science and our understanding of how epidemic diseases can spread through human populati...Ongoing uncertainty over the relative importance of aerosol transmission of COVID-19 is in part rooted in the history of medical science and our understanding of how epidemic diseases can spread through human populations. Ancient Greek medical theory held that such illnesses are transmitted by airborne pathogenic emanations containing particulate matter(“miasmata”). Notable Roman and medieval scholars such as Varro, Ibn al-Khatib and Fracastoro developed these ideas, combining them with early germ theory and the concept of contagion. A widely held but vaguely defined belief in toxic miasmatic mists as a dominant causative agent in disease propagation was overtaken by the science of 19th century microbiology and epidemiology, especially in the study of cholera, which was proven to be mainly transmitted by contaminated water. Airborne disease transmission came to be viewed as burdened by a dubious historical reputation and difficult to demonstrate convincingly. A breakthrough came with the classic mid-20th century work of Wells, Riley and Mills who proved how expiratory aerosols(their “droplet nuclei”)could transport still-infectious tuberculosis bacteria through ventilation systems. The topic of aerosol transmission of pathogenic respiratory diseases assumed a new dimension with the mid-late 20th century “Great Acceleration” of an increasingly hypermobile human population repeatedly infected by different strains of zoonotic viruses, and has taken centre stage this century in response to outbreaks of new respiratory infections that include coronaviruses. From a geoscience perspective, the consequences of pandemic-status diseases such as COVID-19, produced by viral pathogens utilising aerosols to infect a human population currently approaching 8 billion, are far-reaching and unprecedented. The obvious and sudden impacts on for example waste plastic production, water and air quality and atmospheric chemistry are accelerating human awareness of current environmental challenges. As such, the “anthropause”lockdown enforced by COVID-19 may come to be seen as a harbinger of change great enough to be preserved in the Anthropocene stratal record.展开更多
Global closed basins,occupying almost one fifth of the world's land area,spatially coincide with arid and semiarid areas.Paleoclimatic proxies can indicate basin-wide environmental change and human activity.Howeve...Global closed basins,occupying almost one fifth of the world's land area,spatially coincide with arid and semiarid areas.Paleoclimatic proxies can indicate basin-wide environmental change and human activity.However,previous studies have not approached the use of proxies in the same way to reconstruct natural and anthropogenic processes at regional and global scales.Here we present a regional study to investigate the basic processes of paleoclimatic proxies,from a typical closed-basin system in arid China.We use multiple paleoclimatic proxies of surface samples and sediments,as well as groundwater and sediment ages to study environmental change and human activity.We then establish a dataset for paleoclimatic proxies from global closed basins and do a numerical analysis on it.Regional studies verify that human activity greatly impacts paleoclimatic proxies,especially with regard to surface samples,as well as groundwater age,but Holocene sediments are less affected.Results from global studies indicate that the major changing trend of the wet/dry status of closed basins is associated with the movement of the westerly jet streams controlled by long-term changes in winter insolation.There is an abrupt change between 1800 AD and 1900 AD,according to a numerical synthesis of paleoclimatic proxies from global closed basins,which can be linked to human impact.We suggest this time period can be considered as a start point for the Anthropocene based on the sedimentary evidence of closed basins,globally.展开更多
This article is an insight into our lifetime and the enduring capacity of the planet—especially regarding water and space, in face of the Homines population growth. This is and will be recorded in the geological time...This article is an insight into our lifetime and the enduring capacity of the planet—especially regarding water and space, in face of the Homines population growth. This is and will be recorded in the geological time: once preserved as human fossils, we will be part of a chapter in Earth’s history. A brief taphonomic chronology is presented, from the emergence of humans to the domination of the environment and supremacy over other species, and also a concern on how much planet Earth can bear Homines neglects. The objective of this review is to show that the strata that contain human fossils change during the Anthropocene not only the human body but also its tools, resulting from its development. Four stages were identified as taphonomic phases: the first wave, when organic Homines fossils were preserved only with materials in natura, including natural artefacts. The second fossilization phase has occurred and still occurs with the urban Homines, a product of the proliferation of cities, including anthropogenic waste and diseases. The technology that we master today also belongs to our taphonomy: hydrocarbons, metals, plastic, radioactive elements—all fossilize together with the industrial Homines, representing the third fossilization phase, which is very close to the fourth fossilization phase, where our enlightened intelligence buries the technological Homines together with his world of digital waste and new viruses. How will we fossilize the future? This question makes us think about the behavior we assume today—who or what will go to the grave with us, which geological/environmental response will stop superpopulation, which extinction event will hold human proliferation? Which will be the mineral, human and waste components of our subsequent strata? How much water and space can we still use without causing a global environmental collapse?展开更多
Protecting,managing,and restoring freshwater ecosystems in the Anthropocene is essential to tackling the triple planetary crises of biodiversity loss,pollution,and climate change.However,conventional restoration frame...Protecting,managing,and restoring freshwater ecosystems in the Anthropocene is essential to tackling the triple planetary crises of biodiversity loss,pollution,and climate change.However,conventional restoration frameworks often struggle to account for the rapid and nonlinear dynamics that characterize ecological transitions today.In this review,we synthesize emerging insights from freshwater restoration research and propose a novel bivariate framework that integrates both the rate and magnitude of change from a long-term,evolutionary perspective.By examining multidecadal to centennial trajectories and dynamics using paleoenvironmental records,our framework offers a more nuanced classification of ecosystem status along a degradation continuum.Specifically,we categorize four ecosystem types based on their state(from minimally disturbed to highly degraded)and their rate of change(from slow to fast).Each type is associated with distinct system dynamics,restoration potentials,and strategic considerations.To demonstrate practical utility,we apply the framework to a representative Anthropocene lake undergoing severe ecological degradation.While centered on freshwater systems,the framework offers broader relevance for understanding and guiding restoration in other ecosystem types.We conclude by identifying key knowledge gaps and future research directions needed to enhance ecosystem resilience and inform adaptive management in a rapidly changing world.展开更多
Is the Anthropocene a new geological epoch and can its beginning be determined?The so-called Great Acceleration data,used repeatedly in support of the concept of the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch,are closely ...Is the Anthropocene a new geological epoch and can its beginning be determined?The so-called Great Acceleration data,used repeatedly in support of the concept of the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch,are closely examined.They are supposed to be characterised by a clear intensification of growth(sharp increase,acceleration)in the mid-20th century.They revealed the opposite effect:they are characterised by decelerations either at precisely the same time when accelerations were expected or over the entire range of data,the phenomenon described here as the Great Deceleration.展开更多
An epistemological lens on the development of the Anthropocene concept illuminates what have been regarded,but just as importantly what have not been regarded,as pertinent overlapping developments.Such is the intensif...An epistemological lens on the development of the Anthropocene concept illuminates what have been regarded,but just as importantly what have not been regarded,as pertinent overlapping developments.Such is the intensifying impact of humanity on the Earth since the concept was proposed and became popular,the historical and contemporary dimensions of its significance are unprecedented for what began as a potentially straightforward Geological Timescale addition.The debate about defining the Anthropocene,likely to intensify during 2023 through its four-step review and decision process,has recently expanded beyond a mid-20th century isochronous start of an epoch to include an alternative long-term,diachronous and ongoing event.The approach to an optimal definition is propelled by reminders of breakthrough perspectives linking nature and culture,the frameworks of discourse at four 2022-23 Anthropocene conferences,the advantages of a transdisciplinary approach,and a gearshift in context from the Earth to the Earth System to the Earth-Human System.The limitations of a stratigraphic definition for the Anthropocene and the value of a geologically inspired 21st century renaissance that highlights the pressing need for greater harmony between environmental and societal movements are discussed.Mindful that the United Nations is formulating a strategy for the world beyond its 2015-2030 agenda of Sustainable Development Goals,the‘Anthropocene Event’concept provides a robust platform to understand how human activities have deteriorated the global environment,in turn providing the baseline for a‘Anthropocene Renaissance’with integrated past-present-future approaches by the sciences and humanities.展开更多
Anthropogenic indicators have been closely inspected to determine whether they can be used in support of the concept of the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch and of its proposed beginning around 1950 CE(Common Er...Anthropogenic indicators have been closely inspected to determine whether they can be used in support of the concept of the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch and of its proposed beginning around 1950 CE(Common Era),which is supposed to be marked by intensifications of human activities and impacts around that time.Data show that there were no systematic intensifications in growth trajectories describing anthropogenic indicators but there were decelerations suggesting that anthropogenic forces are not as strong as expected and,consequently,that they are probably not strong enough to have unequivocal stratigraphic manifestations of geological transition.Analysis of anthropogenic data suggests that the Anthropocene is not a new geological epoch.展开更多
The Anthropocene defined as an epoch/series within the Geological Time Scale,and with an isochronous inception in the mid-20th century,would both utilize the rich array of stratigraphic signals associated with the Gre...The Anthropocene defined as an epoch/series within the Geological Time Scale,and with an isochronous inception in the mid-20th century,would both utilize the rich array of stratigraphic signals associated with the Great Acceleration and align with Earth System science analysis from where the term Anthropocene originated.It would be stratigraphically robust and reflect the reality that our planet has far exceeded the range of natural variability for the Holocene Epoch/Series which it would terminate.An alternative,recently advanced,time-transgressive‘geological event’definition would decouple the Anthropocene from its stratigraphic characterisation and association with a major planetary perturbation.We find this proposed anthropogenic‘event’to be primarily an interdisciplinary concept in which historical,cultural and social processes and their global environmental impacts are all flexibly interpreted within a multi-scalar framework.It is very different from a stratigraphic-methods-based Anthropocene epoch/series designation,but as an anthropogenic phenomenon,if separately defined and differently named,might be usefully complementary to it.展开更多
Deliberations of a designated working group to define the Anthropocene as an epoch in the Geologic Timescale have entered a recommendation phase toward its Global Stratotype Section and Point(GSSP)with a dozen sites i...Deliberations of a designated working group to define the Anthropocene as an epoch in the Geologic Timescale have entered a recommendation phase toward its Global Stratotype Section and Point(GSSP)with a dozen sites initially proposed.Each is centered on a‘bomb spike’of fallout from mid-20th century atomic explosion tests:however,this is a controversial criterion given the world’s abhorrence of nuclear war.A recently proposed alternative approach would recognize the Anthropocene as a blended geological and historical event beginning at different times over tens of thousands of years and still gathering pace due to humanity’s disruption of the Earth System.A forum for questions after site presentations at a recent meeting of the working group spurred this report.Enhancing the alternative approach by revisiting seldom-referenced aspects of Paul Crutzen’s 2002 vision for the Anthropocene and reflecting on a large body of related perspectives,the Anthropocene could be positioned as the name of a needed new renaissance movement in world history,a bold step that would also reinforce geoscience as a force for the greater good.展开更多
Urban Ethics in the Anthropocene:The Moral Dimensions of Six Emerging Conditions in Contemporary Urbanism Author:Jeffrey K H Chan Year:2019 Publisher:Palgrave Macmillan,Singapore ISBN:9789811303074(in English)Several ...Urban Ethics in the Anthropocene:The Moral Dimensions of Six Emerging Conditions in Contemporary Urbanism Author:Jeffrey K H Chan Year:2019 Publisher:Palgrave Macmillan,Singapore ISBN:9789811303074(in English)Several recent reports show how pertinent the issue of burgeoning urbanism is.A 2022 report posits that 75%of China's population will be urbanized by 2030 and Chinese policymakers will have a significant task in managing the heightened CO_(2) emissions(Sandalow et al.,2022).展开更多
Dear Editor,Coral reefs sustain high biodiversity and have been referred to as the rainforests of the ocean.However,anthropogenic stressors have led to a global decline of coral reefs,partly due to the increasing scal...Dear Editor,Coral reefs sustain high biodiversity and have been referred to as the rainforests of the ocean.However,anthropogenic stressors have led to a global decline of coral reefs,partly due to the increasing scale,frequency,and intensity of coral bleaching events driven by global warming(Henley et al.,2024;Hughes et al.,2018).展开更多
A key scientific issue in the study of the Anthropocene is the determination of the corresponding stratigraphic marker in geological archives.The arid and semi-arid regions of Asia are the second largest dust source o...A key scientific issue in the study of the Anthropocene is the determination of the corresponding stratigraphic marker in geological archives.The arid and semi-arid regions of Asia are the second largest dust source on Earth,and their release,transport and deposition of dust affect global climate change,as well as marine and terrestrial biogeochemical cycles.Over the past~2000 years,human activity has outpaced natural climatic variability as the dominant control of dust storms in northern China.Thus,exploring the potential of anthropogenic Asian dust as a marker of the Anthropocene and its impacts on lake ecosystems may contribute to an improved definition of the characteristics and timing of the Anthropocene.In this context,we measured spectrally-inferred chlorophyll a from the sediments of an undisturbed alpine lake in northern China,and compared the results with dust storm data from the same cores and with regional climatic records.Asian dust is a widely distributed,globally significant signal of human activity,and it is also well preserved in various geological archives;hence,we propose anthropogenic dust can be considered as a potential marker of the Anthropocene.Anthropogenic dust signals in stratigraphic records during the past~2000 years differ substantially from those during the early and middle Holocene,which demonstrates that,at least since~2000 years ago,human activity has exceeded the natural forcing of dust transport in northern China.We therefore propose that there are spatial and temporal differences in the onset of the Anthropocene,as defined by anthropogenic dust deposition,which is therefore time-transgressive.Our spectrally-inferred chlorophyll a record is consistent with dust storm activity over the past~2000 years(except since the 1950s),suggesting that anthropogenic dust storms were the dominant control on lake primary production.Prior to the 1950s the interactions of the East Asian summer monsoon(EASM),human activity,dust storms and lake ecosystems resulted in a shift from a pattern in which“human activity outpaced the EASM as the dominant control on the Earth surface system”to one in which,after the 1950s,“human activity became the dominant factor influencing the EASM and the Earth surface system”.In the future this pattern may trend towards one in which there is the“sustainable development of humans and the environment”.We suggest that,in order to better understand the interactions of human activity,climate and environment,future research on the Anthropocene should focus on its time-transgressive characteristics and regional differences,in addition to the“Great Acceleration”展开更多
In current research on the Anthropocene, assessing the impact of human activities via stratigraphic records of sediments and demarcating the Anthropocene epoch globally are critical scientific issues that urgently nee...In current research on the Anthropocene, assessing the impact of human activities via stratigraphic records of sediments and demarcating the Anthropocene epoch globally are critical scientific issues that urgently need to be addressed. The northeastern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau(QXP), where humans first settled permanently in large numbers in the QXP, has varying sedimentary environments that are extremely sensitive to human activities. In contrast to other regions of the QXP, the northeastern sector boasts a richer array of climatic and environmental reconstruction sequences. This distinctive feature renders it an exemplary locale for investigating the stratigraphic boundary of the Anthropocene. Through in-depth analysis and integration of existing paleoclimate and paleoenvironment sequences in the northeastern QXP, we draw the following conclusions:(1) Throughout the past millennium, the impact of human activities on the environment of the northeastern QXP has become increasingly significant, especially in the past 200–300 years, gradually overshadowing climatic factors.(2) Since AD 1950,multiple physicochemical indicators related to human activities in the northeastern QXP have shown exponential growth,forming a distinct peak within the past millennium and clearly depicting the global “Great Acceleration” phenomenon and its development process.(3) Intensified human activities have driven swift environmental shifts and “decoupled” the interplay between climatic variations and the ecological environment, propelling the northeastern QXP into the “Early Anthropocene”from the “Late Holocene”. On the basis of the above findings, we construct a model suitable for identifying the stratigraphic boundary of the Anthropocene in the northeastern QXP and note that since the ecological environment in the northeastern QXP has entered the “Early Anthropocene”, the climate signals of certain physicochemical indicators in sediments are gradually becoming weaker, whereas the signals of human activities are becoming stronger.展开更多
文摘What is spacetime?How do we perceive this medium?How can we fit it into our everyday linear lives?How can we situate ourselves within it in our post-industrial worldview,in an unsustainable world?This philosophical essay adopts a phenomenological method to interrogate the meaning of this fundamental dimension of reality.Spacetime is interpreted not merely as a physical structure but as a plastic field whose instability shapes inner and social life.Yet the contemporary human condition is marked by a profound alienation,much of which derives from a self-inflicted existential disorientation:I once chose exile and moved to a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean,becoming my own research material.In search of genuine contact with nature,the nonverbal appeared as a necessity.I turned to music as an archetypal language,in the Romantic sense of a medium offering pre-conceptual access to the real.I composed Light Atlas,a six-movement work aiming to capture the flight of seagulls and the eternal struggle between light and darkness.This led me back to physics,to my original question:the lived perception of spacetime.
基金support of the German Research Council(DFG)since 1976 and the cooperation with Sichuan University,Yunnan University,and the Institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)in Kunming,Chengdu,Lanzhou,Xining,and Beijing.Udo Schickhoff is also grateful to the DFG for funding treeline-related research(SCHI 436/14e1)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant numbers U20A2080 and 31622015)Sichuan University(Institutional Research Fund,2021SCUNL102,Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,SCU 2022D003)。
文摘The conversion of forests to pastures is the most important human intervention that has shaped the natural landscape into the Anthropocene environment.The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP),which has both forest drought-lines and alpine treelines with specific ecotone structures,including isolated trees in treeless plant-covers that represent ever existed forest cover according to‘Lonely Tooth Hypothesis’,offers an excellent model in which to examine the extent and timing of human activity on the conversion of forest to pasture.The objectives of this paper are to review(1)palaeo-environmental records of the Early Holocene that indicate when forests were first converted to‘alpine meadows’,and(2)current records of the changing treeline ecotone in the region.‘Alpine meadows’of the QTP are part of the largest conversion of mountain forests into pastures worldwide.This change in forest cover is possibly a consequence of the agro-pastoral transition and the dawn of the Anthropocene on the QTP.To date,however,there is an interdisciplinary gap in knowledge of 5000 years between the palaeo-ecological and the archaeolocical and zoo-archaeological records.Rapid changes of the rural economy and the exodus from remote highland villages to down-country cities have diminished the age-old impacts of summer grazing and pasture management by fire;reforestation is obvious,but often seen exclusively as an effect of Anthropocene global warming.We believe that more interdisciplinary collaborations on the QTP are necessary to increase our understanding of the treelines of the Anthropocene in High Asia.
文摘In a high-profile vote in March 2024,an international scientific committee chose not to support designating a new geological epoch,the Anthropocene[1].Prior to this somewhat unexpected decision,scientists spent 15 years gathering abundant evidence for a shift in the geological timescale that would acknowledge humankind’s accelerating impact on the Earth,which they argued has already left a distinctive mark in the planet’s geological strata.While some will continue to work for formal recognition of the Anthropocene Epoch,others say the concept remains useful whether it is integrated into the official geological time scale or not[2].
文摘Despite the massive efforts that have been made to conserve plant diversity across the world during the past few decades, it is becoming increasingly evident that our current strategies are not sufficiently effective to prevent the continuing decline in biodiversity. As a recent report by the CBD indicates,current progress and commitments are insufficient to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets by 2020.Threatened species lists continue to grow while the world's governments fail to meet biodiversity conservation goals. Clearly, we are failing in our attempts to conserve biodiversity on a sufficient scale.The reasons for this situation are complex, including scientific, technical, sociological, economic and political factors. The conservation community is divided about how to respond. Some believe that saving all existing biodiversity is still an achievable goal. On the other hand, there are those who believe that we need to accept that biodiversity will inevitably continue to be lost, despite all our conservation actions and that we must focus on what to save, why and where. It has also been suggested that we need a new approach to conservation in the face of the challenges posed by the Anthropocene biosphere which we now inhabit. Whatever view one holds on the above issues, it is dear that we need to review the effectiveness of our current conservation strategies, identify the limiting factors that are preventing the Aichi goals being met and at the same time take whatever steps are necessary to make our conservation protocols more explicit, operational and efficient so as to achieve the maximum conservation effect. This paper addresses the key issues that underlie our failure to meet agreed targets and discusses the necessary changes to our conservation approaches. While we can justifiably be proud of our many achievements and successes in plant conservation in the past 30 years, which have helped slow the rate of loss, unless we devise a more coherent, consistent and integrated global strategy in which both the effectiveness and limitations of our current policies, action plans and procedures are recognized, and reflect this in national strategies, and then embark on a much bolder and ambitious set of actions,progress will be limited and plant diversity will continue to decline.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.42042026,L1924041)Research Project on the Discipline Development Strategy of Academic Divisions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XK2019DXC006)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China.
文摘The world is changing at an accelerating pace due to increased human exploitation of the earth’s resources and the consequent climate change and biodiversity loss crises.As a transdisciplinary discipline studying the coupled human and nature systems and their interactions,Geography has natural advantages to promote sustainable development.With the aim of stimulating sustainable development in the Anthropocene,the International Geography and Sustainability Workshop 2021 was held virtually during 23-24 November 2021.This editorial briefly reviews the development history of Geography,summarizes the presentations of keynote speakers,outlines the overall research framework,and discusses the future directions by which the discipline of Geography can be harnessed to advance sustainable development.The key outcomes are as follows:(1)The research paradigms of Geography are shifting from basic knowledge acquisition to understanding of coupling patterns and processes,and to the simulation and prediction of complex human-earth systems;(2)Landscape sustainability science and the metacoupling concept are emerging as new comprehensive research perspectives,and the framework of“Pattern—Process—Service—Sustainability”can be used as a basis to underpin Geography’s role in sustainability;(3)Geography can support sustainable development in many ways,such as in agricultural development,disaster and risk monitoring and early warning,global climate change mitigation,and in helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).Future research directions include:integrated geographical research on climate change and sustainable resource utilization;integrated geographical research on social and economic sustainable development;sustainable cascades of ecosystem structure,functions,services,and human well-being;metacoupling for sustainability;safe and justice space boundaries;the classification-coordination-collaboration approach;and geographical education for sustainable development.
基金supported by the Spanish Research Council (CSIC, Project COVID19 CSIC 202030E226)the Generalitat de Catalunya (SGR41)。
文摘Ongoing uncertainty over the relative importance of aerosol transmission of COVID-19 is in part rooted in the history of medical science and our understanding of how epidemic diseases can spread through human populations. Ancient Greek medical theory held that such illnesses are transmitted by airborne pathogenic emanations containing particulate matter(“miasmata”). Notable Roman and medieval scholars such as Varro, Ibn al-Khatib and Fracastoro developed these ideas, combining them with early germ theory and the concept of contagion. A widely held but vaguely defined belief in toxic miasmatic mists as a dominant causative agent in disease propagation was overtaken by the science of 19th century microbiology and epidemiology, especially in the study of cholera, which was proven to be mainly transmitted by contaminated water. Airborne disease transmission came to be viewed as burdened by a dubious historical reputation and difficult to demonstrate convincingly. A breakthrough came with the classic mid-20th century work of Wells, Riley and Mills who proved how expiratory aerosols(their “droplet nuclei”)could transport still-infectious tuberculosis bacteria through ventilation systems. The topic of aerosol transmission of pathogenic respiratory diseases assumed a new dimension with the mid-late 20th century “Great Acceleration” of an increasingly hypermobile human population repeatedly infected by different strains of zoonotic viruses, and has taken centre stage this century in response to outbreaks of new respiratory infections that include coronaviruses. From a geoscience perspective, the consequences of pandemic-status diseases such as COVID-19, produced by viral pathogens utilising aerosols to infect a human population currently approaching 8 billion, are far-reaching and unprecedented. The obvious and sudden impacts on for example waste plastic production, water and air quality and atmospheric chemistry are accelerating human awareness of current environmental challenges. As such, the “anthropause”lockdown enforced by COVID-19 may come to be seen as a harbinger of change great enough to be preserved in the Anthropocene stratal record.
基金The National Key Research and Development Program of China,No.2019YFC0507401National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.42077415,No.41822708+1 种基金The Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program(STEP),No.2019QZKK0202The Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences,No.XDA20100102。
文摘Global closed basins,occupying almost one fifth of the world's land area,spatially coincide with arid and semiarid areas.Paleoclimatic proxies can indicate basin-wide environmental change and human activity.However,previous studies have not approached the use of proxies in the same way to reconstruct natural and anthropogenic processes at regional and global scales.Here we present a regional study to investigate the basic processes of paleoclimatic proxies,from a typical closed-basin system in arid China.We use multiple paleoclimatic proxies of surface samples and sediments,as well as groundwater and sediment ages to study environmental change and human activity.We then establish a dataset for paleoclimatic proxies from global closed basins and do a numerical analysis on it.Regional studies verify that human activity greatly impacts paleoclimatic proxies,especially with regard to surface samples,as well as groundwater age,but Holocene sediments are less affected.Results from global studies indicate that the major changing trend of the wet/dry status of closed basins is associated with the movement of the westerly jet streams controlled by long-term changes in winter insolation.There is an abrupt change between 1800 AD and 1900 AD,according to a numerical synthesis of paleoclimatic proxies from global closed basins,which can be linked to human impact.We suggest this time period can be considered as a start point for the Anthropocene based on the sedimentary evidence of closed basins,globally.
文摘This article is an insight into our lifetime and the enduring capacity of the planet—especially regarding water and space, in face of the Homines population growth. This is and will be recorded in the geological time: once preserved as human fossils, we will be part of a chapter in Earth’s history. A brief taphonomic chronology is presented, from the emergence of humans to the domination of the environment and supremacy over other species, and also a concern on how much planet Earth can bear Homines neglects. The objective of this review is to show that the strata that contain human fossils change during the Anthropocene not only the human body but also its tools, resulting from its development. Four stages were identified as taphonomic phases: the first wave, when organic Homines fossils were preserved only with materials in natura, including natural artefacts. The second fossilization phase has occurred and still occurs with the urban Homines, a product of the proliferation of cities, including anthropogenic waste and diseases. The technology that we master today also belongs to our taphonomy: hydrocarbons, metals, plastic, radioactive elements—all fossilize together with the industrial Homines, representing the third fossilization phase, which is very close to the fourth fossilization phase, where our enlightened intelligence buries the technological Homines together with his world of digital waste and new viruses. How will we fossilize the future? This question makes us think about the behavior we assume today—who or what will go to the grave with us, which geological/environmental response will stop superpopulation, which extinction event will hold human proliferation? Which will be the mineral, human and waste components of our subsequent strata? How much water and space can we still use without causing a global environmental collapse?
基金supported by the Excellent Research Group Program for Tibetan Plateau Earth System(42588201)the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2022YFF0801101)+1 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(42361144717 and 42471176)the Science and Technology Planning Project(NIGLAS2022GS02)in Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology,Chinese Academy of Sciences.
文摘Protecting,managing,and restoring freshwater ecosystems in the Anthropocene is essential to tackling the triple planetary crises of biodiversity loss,pollution,and climate change.However,conventional restoration frameworks often struggle to account for the rapid and nonlinear dynamics that characterize ecological transitions today.In this review,we synthesize emerging insights from freshwater restoration research and propose a novel bivariate framework that integrates both the rate and magnitude of change from a long-term,evolutionary perspective.By examining multidecadal to centennial trajectories and dynamics using paleoenvironmental records,our framework offers a more nuanced classification of ecosystem status along a degradation continuum.Specifically,we categorize four ecosystem types based on their state(from minimally disturbed to highly degraded)and their rate of change(from slow to fast).Each type is associated with distinct system dynamics,restoration potentials,and strategic considerations.To demonstrate practical utility,we apply the framework to a representative Anthropocene lake undergoing severe ecological degradation.While centered on freshwater systems,the framework offers broader relevance for understanding and guiding restoration in other ecosystem types.We conclude by identifying key knowledge gaps and future research directions needed to enhance ecosystem resilience and inform adaptive management in a rapidly changing world.
文摘Is the Anthropocene a new geological epoch and can its beginning be determined?The so-called Great Acceleration data,used repeatedly in support of the concept of the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch,are closely examined.They are supposed to be characterised by a clear intensification of growth(sharp increase,acceleration)in the mid-20th century.They revealed the opposite effect:they are characterised by decelerations either at precisely the same time when accelerations were expected or over the entire range of data,the phenomenon described here as the Great Deceleration.
文摘An epistemological lens on the development of the Anthropocene concept illuminates what have been regarded,but just as importantly what have not been regarded,as pertinent overlapping developments.Such is the intensifying impact of humanity on the Earth since the concept was proposed and became popular,the historical and contemporary dimensions of its significance are unprecedented for what began as a potentially straightforward Geological Timescale addition.The debate about defining the Anthropocene,likely to intensify during 2023 through its four-step review and decision process,has recently expanded beyond a mid-20th century isochronous start of an epoch to include an alternative long-term,diachronous and ongoing event.The approach to an optimal definition is propelled by reminders of breakthrough perspectives linking nature and culture,the frameworks of discourse at four 2022-23 Anthropocene conferences,the advantages of a transdisciplinary approach,and a gearshift in context from the Earth to the Earth System to the Earth-Human System.The limitations of a stratigraphic definition for the Anthropocene and the value of a geologically inspired 21st century renaissance that highlights the pressing need for greater harmony between environmental and societal movements are discussed.Mindful that the United Nations is formulating a strategy for the world beyond its 2015-2030 agenda of Sustainable Development Goals,the‘Anthropocene Event’concept provides a robust platform to understand how human activities have deteriorated the global environment,in turn providing the baseline for a‘Anthropocene Renaissance’with integrated past-present-future approaches by the sciences and humanities.
文摘Anthropogenic indicators have been closely inspected to determine whether they can be used in support of the concept of the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch and of its proposed beginning around 1950 CE(Common Era),which is supposed to be marked by intensifications of human activities and impacts around that time.Data show that there were no systematic intensifications in growth trajectories describing anthropogenic indicators but there were decelerations suggesting that anthropogenic forces are not as strong as expected and,consequently,that they are probably not strong enough to have unequivocal stratigraphic manifestations of geological transition.Analysis of anthropogenic data suggests that the Anthropocene is not a new geological epoch.
基金support from a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant.
文摘The Anthropocene defined as an epoch/series within the Geological Time Scale,and with an isochronous inception in the mid-20th century,would both utilize the rich array of stratigraphic signals associated with the Great Acceleration and align with Earth System science analysis from where the term Anthropocene originated.It would be stratigraphically robust and reflect the reality that our planet has far exceeded the range of natural variability for the Holocene Epoch/Series which it would terminate.An alternative,recently advanced,time-transgressive‘geological event’definition would decouple the Anthropocene from its stratigraphic characterisation and association with a major planetary perturbation.We find this proposed anthropogenic‘event’to be primarily an interdisciplinary concept in which historical,cultural and social processes and their global environmental impacts are all flexibly interpreted within a multi-scalar framework.It is very different from a stratigraphic-methods-based Anthropocene epoch/series designation,but as an anthropogenic phenomenon,if separately defined and differently named,might be usefully complementary to it.
文摘Deliberations of a designated working group to define the Anthropocene as an epoch in the Geologic Timescale have entered a recommendation phase toward its Global Stratotype Section and Point(GSSP)with a dozen sites initially proposed.Each is centered on a‘bomb spike’of fallout from mid-20th century atomic explosion tests:however,this is a controversial criterion given the world’s abhorrence of nuclear war.A recently proposed alternative approach would recognize the Anthropocene as a blended geological and historical event beginning at different times over tens of thousands of years and still gathering pace due to humanity’s disruption of the Earth System.A forum for questions after site presentations at a recent meeting of the working group spurred this report.Enhancing the alternative approach by revisiting seldom-referenced aspects of Paul Crutzen’s 2002 vision for the Anthropocene and reflecting on a large body of related perspectives,the Anthropocene could be positioned as the name of a needed new renaissance movement in world history,a bold step that would also reinforce geoscience as a force for the greater good.
文摘Urban Ethics in the Anthropocene:The Moral Dimensions of Six Emerging Conditions in Contemporary Urbanism Author:Jeffrey K H Chan Year:2019 Publisher:Palgrave Macmillan,Singapore ISBN:9789811303074(in English)Several recent reports show how pertinent the issue of burgeoning urbanism is.A 2022 report posits that 75%of China's population will be urbanized by 2030 and Chinese policymakers will have a significant task in managing the heightened CO_(2) emissions(Sandalow et al.,2022).
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(42122045,U23A2036)the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2022-24,2023YFC3108800)。
文摘Dear Editor,Coral reefs sustain high biodiversity and have been referred to as the rainforests of the ocean.However,anthropogenic stressors have led to a global decline of coral reefs,partly due to the increasing scale,frequency,and intensity of coral bleaching events driven by global warming(Henley et al.,2024;Hughes et al.,2018).
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41790421 & 42071115)
文摘A key scientific issue in the study of the Anthropocene is the determination of the corresponding stratigraphic marker in geological archives.The arid and semi-arid regions of Asia are the second largest dust source on Earth,and their release,transport and deposition of dust affect global climate change,as well as marine and terrestrial biogeochemical cycles.Over the past~2000 years,human activity has outpaced natural climatic variability as the dominant control of dust storms in northern China.Thus,exploring the potential of anthropogenic Asian dust as a marker of the Anthropocene and its impacts on lake ecosystems may contribute to an improved definition of the characteristics and timing of the Anthropocene.In this context,we measured spectrally-inferred chlorophyll a from the sediments of an undisturbed alpine lake in northern China,and compared the results with dust storm data from the same cores and with regional climatic records.Asian dust is a widely distributed,globally significant signal of human activity,and it is also well preserved in various geological archives;hence,we propose anthropogenic dust can be considered as a potential marker of the Anthropocene.Anthropogenic dust signals in stratigraphic records during the past~2000 years differ substantially from those during the early and middle Holocene,which demonstrates that,at least since~2000 years ago,human activity has exceeded the natural forcing of dust transport in northern China.We therefore propose that there are spatial and temporal differences in the onset of the Anthropocene,as defined by anthropogenic dust deposition,which is therefore time-transgressive.Our spectrally-inferred chlorophyll a record is consistent with dust storm activity over the past~2000 years(except since the 1950s),suggesting that anthropogenic dust storms were the dominant control on lake primary production.Prior to the 1950s the interactions of the East Asian summer monsoon(EASM),human activity,dust storms and lake ecosystems resulted in a shift from a pattern in which“human activity outpaced the EASM as the dominant control on the Earth surface system”to one in which,after the 1950s,“human activity became the dominant factor influencing the EASM and the Earth surface system”.In the future this pattern may trend towards one in which there is the“sustainable development of humans and the environment”.We suggest that,in order to better understand the interactions of human activity,climate and environment,future research on the Anthropocene should focus on its time-transgressive characteristics and regional differences,in addition to the“Great Acceleration”
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 42171160, 42225105, 42071115, 41972193)。
文摘In current research on the Anthropocene, assessing the impact of human activities via stratigraphic records of sediments and demarcating the Anthropocene epoch globally are critical scientific issues that urgently need to be addressed. The northeastern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau(QXP), where humans first settled permanently in large numbers in the QXP, has varying sedimentary environments that are extremely sensitive to human activities. In contrast to other regions of the QXP, the northeastern sector boasts a richer array of climatic and environmental reconstruction sequences. This distinctive feature renders it an exemplary locale for investigating the stratigraphic boundary of the Anthropocene. Through in-depth analysis and integration of existing paleoclimate and paleoenvironment sequences in the northeastern QXP, we draw the following conclusions:(1) Throughout the past millennium, the impact of human activities on the environment of the northeastern QXP has become increasingly significant, especially in the past 200–300 years, gradually overshadowing climatic factors.(2) Since AD 1950,multiple physicochemical indicators related to human activities in the northeastern QXP have shown exponential growth,forming a distinct peak within the past millennium and clearly depicting the global “Great Acceleration” phenomenon and its development process.(3) Intensified human activities have driven swift environmental shifts and “decoupled” the interplay between climatic variations and the ecological environment, propelling the northeastern QXP into the “Early Anthropocene”from the “Late Holocene”. On the basis of the above findings, we construct a model suitable for identifying the stratigraphic boundary of the Anthropocene in the northeastern QXP and note that since the ecological environment in the northeastern QXP has entered the “Early Anthropocene”, the climate signals of certain physicochemical indicators in sediments are gradually becoming weaker, whereas the signals of human activities are becoming stronger.
