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New archaeobotanical evidence reveals synchronous rice domestication 7600 years ago on south Hangzhou Bay coast, eastern China Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2021-01-22 Lanjie Deng; Yan Liu; Jin He; Ren Jiang; Feng Jiang; Jing Chen; Zhongyuan Chen; Qianli Sun
South Hangzhou Bay in eastern China occupies an important position in tracing the origins and dispersal of rice and rice cultures in ancient China. Existing literature suggests that early coastal rice domestication emerged ca.8000-7400 years ago in the Kuahuqiao area, at the apex of the Bay, but no solid evidence implies a simultaneous domestication at any other places in this region. This paper presents
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Atmospheric sources of anthropogenic and geogenic trace metals in Australian lichens and fungi Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2021-01-20 Liqin Wu; Cynthia Faye Isley; Heather K. Handley; Mark Patrick Taylor
Trace metals in archived lichen and fungi samples, dating back over 158 years were measured to ascertain their potential to record temporal shifts in atmospheric source inputs; starting from the onset of industrial activity in Australia, to the present. Lichen (Cladonia n = 85; Usnea n = 47) and fungi (Trametes n = 40) samples from the greater Sydney and Melbourne areas were analysed for their total
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Early anthropogenic change in western Mediterranean mountains (Sierra Nevada, SE Spain) Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2021-01-19 Francisca Alba-Sánchez; Daniel Abel-Schaad; José Antonio López-Sáez; Silvia Sabariego-Ruiz; Sebastián Pérez-Díaz; Reyes Luelmo-Lautenschlaeger; José Antonio Garrido-García
Human impact on western Mediterranean mountains is gaining more attention, as they harbour a rich plant diversity threatened by global change. This paper presents an analysis of two pollen records from both sides of Sierra Nevada, the prime plant-diversity centre of the Mediterranean, spanning the last 5400 years. The analysis sought to answer the following key questions: When did natural systems transform
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Climate change refugia for glaciers in Patagonia Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-12-31 Francisco Manquehual-Cheuque; Marcelo Somos-Valenzuela
The permanence of glaciers worldwide is uncertain due to increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation. Glaciers are essential as strategic water reservoirs. They pose natural risks, constitute economic resources, and contribute to the rise in sea levels. Identifying places that remain relatively protected against these changes, and that could act as climate change refugia (CCR), is essential
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Socio-ecological drivers of long-term ecosystem carbon stock trend: An assessment with the LUCCA model of the French case Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-12-30 Julia Le Noë; Karl-Heinz Erb; Sarah Matej; Andreas Magerl; Manan Bhan; Simone Gingrich
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Late Holocene periods of copper mining in the Eisenerz Alps (Austria) deduced from calcareous lake deposits Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-12-01 Wolfgang Knierzinger; Jyh-Jaan Steven Huang; Michael Strasser; Klaus-Holger Knorr; Ruth Drescher-Schneider; Michael Wagreich
Palynological studies and archaeological discoveries suggest repeated extensive prehistoric copper mining in the Eisenerz Alps (Styria, Austria). In an attempt to reconstruct the specific temporal evolution of copper (Cu) mining activity in this area from the Bronze Age to the medieval period, this article presents records of elemental variations, trace elemental enrichments of Cu, nickel (Ni), zinc
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Ambient air quality of a less industrialized region of India (Kerala) during the COVID-19 lockdown Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-11-28 Jobin Thomas; P.J. Jainet; K.P. Sudheer
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Sediment carbon storage increases in tropical, oligotrophic, high mountain lakes Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-11-28 Javier Alcocer; Ana Carolina Ruiz-Fernández; Luis Alberto Oseguera; Margarita Caballero; Joan-Albert Sanchez-Cabeza; Libia Hascibe Pérez-Bernal; Donají Maribel Hernández-Rivera
High mountain lakes are valuable sentinels of global change because they are sensitive to environmental stress and integrate changes in the atmosphere and their catchment areas. This study tested the hypothesis that local and regional anthropogenic stressors have affected productivity, sedimentation, and organic carbon burial in two tropical high mountain lakes in central Mexico. We studied changes
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Further comments on analysing trajectories of vegetation and landscape change in southern Africa from historical field photographs Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-11-28 M. Timm Hoffman; Rick F. Rohde; Lindsey Gillson
The comparison of matched historical and repeat photograph pairs provides an important tool to assess historical trends in vegetation and landscape change. An analysis of repeat photographs is invaluable for ground-truthing and augmenting an understanding of trajectories of vegetation change derived from other methods such as aerial photographs, remote sensing and models. In this article, we comment
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Analysing trajectories of vegetation and landscape change in southern Africa from historical field photographs Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-11-26 Jasper Knight; Jennifer Fitchett
Examining vegetation change over decadal to centennial timescales by comparing paired sets of historic and contemporary field photographs is a tried and tested approach, used recently in many ecological studies in southern Africa. This approach, however, fails to consider the different forcing factors contributing to vegetation and landscape change over historical time periods. This Viewpoint article
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Deciphering centurial anthropogenic pollution processes in large lakes dominated by socio-economic impacts Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-10-21 Qi Lin; Ke Zhang; Enfeng Liu; Pierre Sabatier; Fabien Arnaud; Ji Shen
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Spatial prioritization for biodiversity conservation in a megadiverse country Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-10-01 Alma V. Mendoza-Ponce; Rogelio O. Corona-Núñez; Florian Kraxner; Francisco Estrada
Mexico is a biologically megadiverse country, but its biodiversity is endangered due to high deforestation rates. Impacts of land-use/cover-change and climate change are unevenly distributed, which hinders the execution of conservation practices. Consequently, an adequate spatial conservation prioritization is crucial to minimize the negative impacts on biodiversity. Global and national efforts to
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Recent anthropogenic climate change exceeds the rate and magnitude of natural Holocene variability on the Balearic Islands Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-10-16 David Kaniewski; Nick Marriner; Rachid Cheddadi; Christophe Morhange; Miguel Ángel Cau Ontiveros; Joan J. Fornós; Matthieu Giaime; Valérie Trichon; Thierry Otto; Frédéric Luce; Elise Van Campo
Industrial-era warming and aridification have underlined the importance of past climate reconstructions in contextualizing present-day anomalies from a long-term perspective. While the issue of climate change is global, studies have long stressed the vulnerability of the Mediterranean basin, especially with regard to its islands with likely acute environmental and socioeconomic impacts. This study
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Anthropogenic drivers for exceptionally large meander formation during the Late Holocene Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-09-15 Cindy Quik; Jasper H.J. Candel; Bart Makaske; Roy van Beek; Maurice Paulissen; Gilbert J. Maas; Menno Verplak; Theo Spek; Jakob Wallinga
Large-amplitude meanders may form in low-energy rivers despite generally limited mobility in theses systems. Exceptionally large meanders which even extend beyond the valley sides have developed in the Overijsselse Vecht river (the Netherlands) between ca. 1400 CE (Common Era) and the early 1900s, when channelization occurred. Previous studies have attributed the enhanced lateral dynamics of this river
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Modeling the geomorphic response to early river engineering works using CAESAR-Lisflood Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-09-28 Jorge Alberto Ramirez; Andreas Paul Zischg; Stefan Schürmann; Markus Zimmermann; Rolf Weingartner; Tom Coulthard; Margreth Keiler
Landscape Evolution Models (LEMs) simulate the movement of water and sediment over the landscape. Although much progress has been made in the development of LEMs, few have been tested in rivers subject to anthropogenic impacts that produce high energy flows, transporting large amounts of sediment and causing significant geomorphic changes. As such, it remains uncertain if LEMs are useful and stable
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Viability of greenhouse gas removal via the artificial addition of volcanic ash to the ocean Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-09-12 Jack Longman; Martin R. Palmer; Thomas M. Gernon
Mitigating human contributions to climate change is a highly debated topic, as it becomes evident that many nations do not adhere to optional reductions in global emission. Substantial research is taking place into negative carbon technologies that actively reduce the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) via greenhouse gas removal (GGR). Various GGR methods have been proposed, from reforestation
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Human-driven atoll island expansion in the Maldives Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-09-13 Virginie K.E. Duvat
This study assesses the evolution of 104 inhabited and 82 resort islands across the Maldives between 2004-2006 and 2014-2016 and investigates the contribution of human drivers. Using multi-date satellite imagery, we show that 59.1 % of these islands expanded as a result of human intervention, including mainly land reclamation (often associated with harbor development) and the construction of engineering
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Pandemics and the future of human-landscape interactions Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-08-27 Anne Chin, Gregory L. Simon, Peter Anthamatten, Katharine C. Kelsey, Benjamin R. Crawford, Amanda J. Weaver
Pandemics have accelerated in frequency in recent decades, with COVID-19 the latest to join the list. Emerging in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, the virus has spread quickly through the world, affecting billions of people through quarantine, and at the same time claiming more than 800,000 lives worldwide. While early reflections from the academic community have tended to target the microbiology, medicine
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Limited variability in the phytoplankton Emiliania huxleyi since the pre-industrial era in the Subantarctic Southern Ocean Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-07-24 A.S. Rigual-Hernández, J.M. Sánchez-Santos, R. Eriksen, A.D. Moy, F.J. Sierro, J.A. Flores, F. Abrantes, H. Bostock, S.D. Nodder, A. González-Lanchas, T.W. Trull
The Southern Ocean is warming faster than the average global ocean and is particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification due to its low temperatures and moderate alkalinity. Coccolithophores are the most productive calcifying phytoplankton and an important component of Southern Ocean ecosystems. Laboratory observations on the most abundant coccolithophore, Emiliania huxleyi, suggest that this species
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Understanding direct and indirect effects of Payment for Ecosystem Services on resource use and wildlife Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-07-24 Hsiang Ling Chen, Rebecca L. Lewison, Li An, Shuang Yang, Lei Shi, Weiyong Zhang
Payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs have been implemented worldwide to balance human needs and ecosystem conservation. However, the effects of PES programs on economic activities and the associated effects on wildlife remain unclear. China’s Grain-to-Green program (GTGP) that aims to convert cropland to forest or grassland represents one of the largest PES programs in the world. We combine
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Heterogeneity of ecosystem function in an “Anthropocene” river system Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-07-24 Jason A. DeBoer, Martin C. Thoms, Michael D. Delong, Melissa E. Parsons, Andrew F. Casper
Physical heterogeneity is a strong driver of ecosystem function in rivers, but it is not clear whether this relationship persists in “Anthropocene” rivers: those affected by pronounced and persistent anthropogenic stressors. Such stressors can result in regime shifts of rivers, altering not only ecosystem structure and function, but also their heterogeneity. This study examines the heterogeneity of
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Human-environmental interactions in Mediterranean climate regions from the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-07-23 Torben Rick, Miguel Ángel Cau Ontiveros, Antonieta Jerardino, Annarita Mariotti, César Méndez, Alan N. Williams
From mobile hunter-gatherers to a series of state societies, Mediterranean climate regions (MED) around the world have been critical areas for human and biological evolution for millennia. Comprised of five regions on six continents, the MED are important today for human settlement, global food production, transportation, industry, and tourism, but these regions are also extremely vulnerable to projected
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Buried soils as archives of paleo-pollution in the North China Plain Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-06-29 Michael J. Storozum, Zhen Qin, Yiming V. Wang, Haiwang Liu
Ancient soils contain geochemical signatures of human land use, making them usable as a “golden spike,” or globally synchronous marker, to identify traces of the early “Anthropocene.” This article examines the sedimentary record in northern China to determine when, and under what cultural circumstances, did ancient pollution appear in buried soils and sediments. Using methods of Inductively Coupled
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Tracking the history of 20th century cultural eutrophication in High Arctic waterbodies Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-06-21 Lauren R. Gallant, Linda E. Kimpe, Kathryn E. Hargan, Jules M. Blais
Human activities can greatly affect the chemical and biological composition of High Arctic lakes that otherwise receive only sparse inputs from their watersheds and airsheds. This paper reports a study of three High Arctic waterbodies in which wastewater from an airport was released over the span of several decades. Using sediment cores from these waterbodies, we reconstructed the history of wastewater
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Quantifying the Benefits of Home Buyouts for Mitigating Flood Damages Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-05-23 Katherine S. Nelson, Janey Camp
With increasing costs of floods across the globe, interest has grown in using managed retreat strategies, such as home buyouts, for flood mitigation. For years, national-level estimates of the benefits of flood mitigation investments in the United States have been estimated as being on the order of 4:1 (USD) or more recently 6:1 (USD), according to the Federal Emergency management Agency and others
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Legacy sediments in a European context: The example of infrastructure-induced sediments on the Rhône River Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-05-20 Sophia Vauclin, Brice Mourier, Hervé Piégay, Thierry Winiarski
The concept of legacy sediments, introduced in the early 2010s, is increasingly common to refer to sediment produced in watersheds within a limited period by anthropogenic disturbances. Primarily applied for cases in the USA, legacy sediment is a key concept to characterize the health of river corridors and design relevant restoration schemes. Surprisingly, examples of legacy sediments in European
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How humans may co-exist with Earth? The case for suboptimal systems Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-05-06 Stéphane Grumbach, Olivier Hamant
Human societies rely on rules to function, curbing the interests of individuals in favor of the interests of the population. A review of recent progress in biology and digital sciences suggests that such strategies might be universal: many living and technological systems favor the interests of the population to the detriment of individuals, at all scales. They behave in a suboptimal manner, restraining
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Global change in microcosms: Environmental and societal predictors of land cover change on the Atlantic Ocean Islands Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-04-25 Sietze J. Norder, Ricardo F. de Lima, Lea de Nascimento, Jun Y. Lim, José María Fernández-Palacios, Maria M. Romeiras, Rui Bento Elias, Francisco J. Cabezas, Luís Catarino, Luis M.P. Ceríaco, Alvaro Castilla-Beltrán, Rosalina Gabriel, Miguel Menezes de Sequeira, Kenneth F. Rijsdijk, Sandra Nogué, W. Daniel Kissling, E. Emiel van Loon, Marcus Hall, Paulo A.V. Borges
Islands contribute enormously to global biodiversity, but their species and ecosystems are highly threatened and often confined to small patches of remaining native vegetation. Islands are thus ideal microcosms to study the local dimensions of global change. While human activities have drastically transformed most islands, the extent to which societal and environmental conditions shape differences
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Impacts of land-cover changes on snow avalanche activity in the French Alps Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-04-23 Robin Mainieri, Adrien Favillier, Jérôme Lopez-Saez, Nicolas Eckert, Taline Zgheib, Pauline Morel, Mélanie Saulnier, Jean-Luc Peiry, Markus Stoffel, Christophe Corona
Dendrogeomorphic analyses provide long and continuous chronologies of mass movements that are useful for the detection of trends related to climate change. Socio-environmental changes can, however, induce non-stationarities. This study addresses the following questions: (1) How does the evolution of forest cover induce non-stationarities in tree-ring based reconstructions of snow avalanche activity
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Teaching climate change in the Anthropocene: An integrative approach Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-04-22 Robin Leichenko, Karen O’Brien
Why are we still educating college and university students through a Holocene lens? How can we expect young people to engage with the transformative challenges required to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement when climate change education is organized in a narrow and linear fashion? Climate change courses and teaching modules largely emphasize scientific literacy through a focus on physical processes
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Discrepancy in the responses of diatom diversity to indirect and direct human activities in lakes of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau, China Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-04-17 Rong Wang, Zhujun Hu, Qian Wang, Min Xu, Wenxiu Zheng, Ke Zhang, Xiangdong Yang
Both global warming and human impacts are inimical to the maintenance of biodiversity across the planet. Although there is some consensus regarding the probable responses of biodiversity changes under different global change scenarios, the factors controlling biodiversity on regional scales are unclear. Using surveys of lake-bed surface sediments and an analysis of diatoms from six lake cores across
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The end of a myth: Solving the knotweeds invasion “problem” Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-03-17 Marylise Cottet, Anne Rivière-Honegger, Lise Vaudor, Léa Colombain, Fanny Dommanget, André Evette
Managing invasive species is currently a key issue for preserving biodiversity. The role of managers of transport infrastructure is essential because roads, railways and rivers are known to facilitate the spread of invasive species. This is the case for Fallopia spp. (knotweeds) in particular, which is a highly invasive species in Europe. Previous studies have indicated strong motivation among environmental
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From hubris to humility: Transcending original sin in managing hydroclimatic risk Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-03-17 Donald R. Nelson, Brian P. Bledsoe, J. Marshall Shepherd
The characteristics of hydroclimatic risk in the 21st Century are rapidly changing. Increases in extreme weather events and population densities alter exposure to floods and droughts. Water infrastructure is unable to keep pace and deterministic models can mislead. Yet, predominant strategies for managing risk continue to follow historical precedent, striving to tame nature's outbursts and mitigate
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High-resolution sedimentary record of anthropogenic deposits accumulated in a sewer decantation tank Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-03-12 Jérémy Jacob, Alexandre Thibault, Anaëlle Simonneau, Pierre Sabatier, Claude Le Milbeau, Pascale Gautret, Luigi Ardito, Cédric Morio
To test the extent to which sediments accumulated in sewers may serve as high-resolution archives of urban evolution, this study examined a sedimentary succession deposited in a decantation tank of the combined sewer network of Orléans (France). The focus was on a 1.43 m sediment core drilled after 10 months of operation since the last cleaning. Sediments were stratigraphically organised into three
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The key role of canyons in funnelling litter to the deep sea: A study of the Gioia Canyon (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea) Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-03-03 Martina Pierdomenico, Daniele Casalbore, Francesco Latino Chiocci
Litter is a significant environmental issue, threatening all ocean environments including the deep sea, where little is known about the extent of the threat. This study collected underwater videos on shelf-indenting canyons (the Gioia and Petrace Canyon) and adjacent sectors to characterize benthic litter and its distribution patterns. A high density of litter was present in the canyon thalwegs (up
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Influence of anthropogenic landscape modifications and infrastructure on the geological characteristics of liquefaction Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-01-28 Josh Borella, Mark Quigley, Moses Riley, Sarah Trutner, Harry Jol, Maxwell Borella, Sam Hampton, Darren Gravley
Many large cities worldwide are built on natural and engineered geological materials that are highly susceptible to liquefaction and associated ground failure in earthquakes. Constitutive equations describing relationships between sediment geotechnical characteristics, seismological parameters, and liquefaction susceptibility of natural and engineered sediments are well established. What is less understood
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Collapse of orchid populations altered traditional knowledge and cultural valuation in Sichuan, China Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2020-01-20 Barnabas C. Seyler, Orou G. Gaoue, Ya Tang, David C. Duffy, Ercong Aba
Biological and cultural diversity are integrally linked, yet understanding how culture impacts biological extinction is limited. The orchid richness of Southwest China’s Sichuan Province is the second highest in China, but price speculation and overharvest have resulted in significant recent orchid population collapses. Due to the importance of Cymbidium orchids to Han Chinese traditional culture,
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Assessing lead sources in fishes of the northeast Pacific Ocean Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-12-19 Miling Li, Dominique Weis, Kate E. Smith, Alyssa E. Shiel, Wade D. Smith, Brian P.V. Hunt, Abe Torchinsky, Evgeny A. Pakhomov
Industrial lead (Pb) emissions have changed oceanic Pb concentrations and isotopic compositions significantly over the last century. Asian industrial emissions are currently the dominant Pb sources in the northwest and central Pacific Ocean. This study investigated major Pb sources in the northeast Pacific Ocean (inland, coastal, and open ocean), where no comprehensive data exist currently. We measured
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Timber harvest and flood impacts on sediment yield in a postglacial, mixed-forest watershed, Maine, USA Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-12-16 Timothy L. Cook, Noah P. Snyder, W. Wyatt Oswald, Kay Paradis
The impact of human activities on sediment yield is poorly constrained in the northeastern United States, as in other northern hemisphere forested landscapes previously occupied by Pleistocene ice sheets. This study examines changes in sedimentation in Little Kennebago Lake (LKL), Maine, in relation to extreme hydrologic events and land-use change. Historical records indicate minimal disturbance before
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The Anthropocene fossil record of terrestrial mammals Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-12-07 Roy E. Plotnick, Karen A. Koy
This paper reviews how human impacts produced a marked shift from natural processes in the potential input of terrestrial mammals to the fossil record, both in composition of the mammal taxa and in processes controlling their preservation. These issues are key considerations in predicting the future fossil record of the modern vertebrate fauna and determining if there will be a resultant “Anthropocene”
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Oceanic mercury concentrations on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar decreased between 1989 and 2012 Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-11-29 Daniel Cossa, Joël Knoery, Marie Boye, Nicolas Marusczak, Bastien Thomas, Philippe Courau, Francesca Sprovieri
Mercury (Hg) is a toxic metal that threatens the health of aquatic ecosystems and fish consumers. Its natural cycle has been deeply perturbed by Anthropogenic Hg emissions have deeply perturbed its natural cycle, especially since the start of the Industrial Revolution circa 1850 CE. Anthropogenic Hg emissions from North America and Europe have decreased by a factor of two in the last decades following
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Probabilistic mapping of flood hazards: Depicting uncertainty in streamflow, land use, and geomorphic adjustment Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-11-29 Timothy A. Stephens, Brian P. Bledsoe
Spatial and temporal variability in precipitation, land use, and river channels introduce uncertainty in flood estimates and pose challenges for floodplain management and mitigation. Yet, standard deterministic methods for quantifying flood hazards and evaluating risk assume stationarity in a nonstationary world and fail to account for uncertainties as they translate to flood hazards. A need exists
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The geological significance of novel anthropogenic materials: Deposits of industrial waste and by-products Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-11-19 Joris J. Dijkstra, Rob N.J. Comans, Jeroen Schokker, Michiel J. van der Meulen
Industrial wastes and by-products are increasingly (re-)used as filling material in constructions. To enhance awareness among the geological community of the growing and widespread occurrence of deposits that contain these “novel anthropogenic materials”, this paper reviews three volumetrically important materials: (1) ash remaining from the incineration of household waste (Municipal Solid Waste Incineration
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Integrating evidence of land use and land cover change for land management policy formulation along the Kenya-Tanzania borderlands Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-11-01 Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi, Claudia Capitani, Oliver Boles, Rebecca Kariuki, Rebecca Newman, Linus Munishi, Rob Marchant, Paul Lane
This paper presents an overview of the scientific evidence providing insights into long term ecosystem and social dynamics across the northern Tanzania and southern Kenya borderlands. The data sources covered a range from palaeoenvironmental records and archaeological information to remote sensing and social science studies that examined human-environmental interactions and land use land cover changes
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Hybrid infrastructures, hybrid governance: New evidence from Nairobi (Kenya) on green-blue-grey infrastructure in informal settlements Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-10-10 Joe Mulligan, Vera Bukachi, Jack Campbell Clause, Rosie Jewell, Franklin Kirimi, Chelina Odbert
In expanding informal neighborhoods of cities in sub-Saharan Africa, sustainable management of storm and wastewater drainage is fundamental to improving living conditions. Planners debate the optimal combination between "green" or natural infrastructure, traditional "grey" infrastructure, and "blue" infrastructure, which mimics natural solutions using artificial materials. Many advocate for small-scale
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Impacts of distinct spatial arrangements of impervious surfaces on runoff and sediment fluxes from laboratory experiments Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-10-09 C.S.S. Ferreira, R. Moruzzi, J.M.G.P. Isidoro, M. Tudor, M. Vargas, A.J.D. Ferreira, J.L.M.P. de Lima
Urbanization affects runoff processes and sediment transport, but the magnitude of the impacts remains poorly understood. Different spatial patterns of pervious and impervious surfaces influence flow and sediment connectivity between hillslopes and stream networks. Following years of research on the peri-urbanizing Ribeira dos Covões catchment in Portugal, this study uses laboratory rainfall simulation
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Multiscalar spatial analysis of urban flood risk and environmental justice in the Charlanta megaregion, USA Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-09-19 Neil Debbage
Previous research exploring the environmental justice implications of urban flood hazards has produced contrasting results due to the different dasymetric mapping techniques used, the various spatial scales of the analyses, and the specific geographical context of the individual study cities, particularly as it relates to the presence of coastal water-based amenities. To better understand if vulnerable
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Greenhouse gas flux from stormwater ponds in southeastern Virginia (USA) Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-08-25 A.L. Gorsky, G.A. Racanelli, A.C. Belvin, R.M. Chambers
Stormwater ponds are ubiquitous features of developed landscapes of the eastern United States. Their design specifically controls the pace of water runoff from impervious cover of surrounding watersheds. Ponds accumulate organic matter that typically decomposes anaerobically in bottom sediments, and thus may be significant sources of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere (e.g., carbon dioxide (CO2), methane
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A survey-based assessment of perceived flood risk in urban areas of the United States Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-08-23 Sharon L. Harlan, Mariana J. Sarango, Elizabeth A. Mack, Timothy A. Stephens
How people perceive the risks of climatic hazards is currently a major research thrust in the field of risk perception. In the wake of recent flood disasters in the United States (US) and globally, more researchers are investigating social vulnerabilities as well as the role of cognition in explaining risk perceptions. This study analyzed how people in the US perceive the risk (i.e., likelihood and
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Meteorological catalysts of dust events and particle source dynamics of affected soils during the 1930s Dust Bowl drought, Southern High Plains, USA Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-08-03 Kasey Bolles, Mark Sweeney, Steven Forman
Mineral dust aerosols are a key component of the Earth system and a growing public health concern under climate change, as levels of dustiness increase. The Great Plains in the USA is particularly vulnerable to dust episodes, but land-atmosphere interactions contributing to large-scale dust transport are poorly constrained. This study compiled one of the longest quantitative, spatially-comprehensive
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Deciphering African tropical forest dynamics in the Anthropocene: How social and historical sciences can elucidate forest cover change and inform forest management Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-07-09 G. Walters, J. Angus Fraser, N. Picard, O. Hymas, J. Fairhead
Forests bear the historical legacies of human activities over thousands of years, including agriculture, trade, disease and resource extraction. Many of these activities may represent indices of the proposed geological epoch of the Anthropocene. Modifications to soil, topography and vegetation evidence anthropogenic influences. Yet studies of vegetation change throughout the humid tropics tend to occlude
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An evaluation of human interventions in the anthropogenically disturbed Caribbean Coast of Colombia Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-07-06 Cristina I. Pereira, Diego A. Madrid, Iván D. Correa, Enzo Pranzini, Camilo M. Botero
Although human interventions have influenced many coastal areas around the world, research has rarely assessed the environmental impacts of these anthropogenic perturbations. To understand the dominant coastal interventions in countries with tropical areas, this study established a baseline along the continental Caribbean coast of Colombia (approximates 1700 km), based on 29 types of human interventions
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Anthropogenic energy and carbon flows through Canada’s agri-food system: Reframing climate change solutions Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-06-01 Adekunbi B. Adetona, David B. Layzell
Greenhouse gas accounting for agricultural systems consider methane and nitrous oxide emissions, carbon emissions from liming and urea use, as well as carbon stock changes, but it ignores gross flows of bio-based energy and carbon. This study compiled data for Canada’s agri-food system over the 2010-13 period, from food supply and disposition to crop processing, animal production, and crop/pasture
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Warfare dendrochronology: Trees witness the deployment of the German battleship Tirpitz in Norway Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-05-18 Claudia Hartl, Scott St. George, Oliver Konter, Lorenz Harr, Denis Scholz, Andreas Kirchhefer, Jan Esper
War has an immediate and obvious effect on people and communities, but its impacts on local ecology can be more subtle. This paper shows how one military encounter in the Second World War has left a clear legacy in the northern forests of Norway, trackable more than seventy years later. We used annual growth rings of ∼180 pine and ∼30 birch trees as witnesses of the deployment of the German battleship
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Changing snow depth in the Great Lakes basin (USA): Implications and trends Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-04-28 Zachary J. Suriano, David A. Robinson, Daniel J. Leathers
In the Great Lakes basin of North America, snow plays a critical role in the regional hydroclimate, where snow ablation events can serve both as a resource and a hazard. The frequency and magnitude of an ablation event is governed by the availability of meteorological conditions to ablate snow, and the physical presence of snow to be ablated. While the meteorological conditions leading to ablation
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Intentional disruption of path-dependencies in the Anthropocene: Gray versus green water infrastructure regimes in Mexico City, Mexico Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-04-27 David Manuel-Navarrete, Christopher Morehart, Beth Tellman, Hallie Eakin, J. Mario. Siqueiros-García, Bertha Hernández Aguilar
Cities are urged to promote green infrastructures to reduce their global environmental impacts, while simultaneously adapting to the global climatic variability that such impacts generate. Human Niche Construction theory, however, predicts evolutionary pressures acting over social groups that, this paper contends, tend to favor gray over green infrastructure. This conflict is due to competitive advantages
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Finding forest management in prehistoric Amazonia Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-04-25 Dolores R. Piperno, Crystal N.H. McMichael, Mark B. Bush
This paper addresses a topic highlighted in recent arguments by Amazonian scholars: the extent to which forms of forest management in prehistory influenced the past and present composition of terra firme and riverine forests. New information on palm phytolith characteristics enabled phytolith analysis on soils sampled from underneath forests in western and central Amazon. We evaluated whether three
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Tree growth patterns associated with extreme longevity: Implications for the ecology and conservation of primeval trees in Mediterranean mountains Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-03-16 Gianluca Piovesan, Franco Biondi, Michele Baliva, Anna Dinella, Luca Di Fiore, Vittoria Marchiano, Emanuele Presutti Saba, Giuseppe De Vivo, Aldo Schettino, Alfredo Di Filippo
This study analyzed with dendrochronology 177 Heldreich’s pines growing on the Pollino Massif in southern Italy for understanding climatic and human impacts on old trees. Most of the large-diameter trees currently living became established in the late Medieval to Renaissance periods under a snowy wet climate and low anthropic influence. Millennium-old (i.e., > 900 years of age) trees in remote sites
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Culture and the Independent Self: Obstacles to environmental sustainability? Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-02-28 Hikaru Komatsu, Jeremy Rappleye, Iveta Silova
The centrality of culture for achieving environmental sustainability has long been underscored by philosophers, psychologists, and social scientists concerned about the environment. However, to date few studies have detected an empirical relationship between cultural dimensions and actual environmental impacts on Earth (e.g., the Ecological Footprint, EF). This study examined the hypothesis that an
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Glacio-archaeological evidence of permanent settlements within a glacier end moraine complex during 980-1840 AD: The Miyar Basin, Lahaul Himalaya, India Anthropocene (IF 3.39) Pub Date : 2019-02-22 Rakesh Saini, Milap Chand Sharma, Sanjay Deswal, Iestyn David Barr, Pawan Kumar, Parvendra Kumar, Pankaj Kumar, Sundeep Chopra
This study presents glacio-archaeological evidence from the Miyar basin, Lahaul Himalaya, that points towards the former presence of a well settled agricultural society, within a glacier end moraine complex. Three high altitude villages (Tharang, Phundang and Patam, now in ruins) with elaborate irrigation networks thrived within the end moraine complex of Tharang glacier at 3700 m a.s.l. Evidence exists
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