Ideas and perspectives: Human impacts alter the marine fossil record
The youngest fossil record is a crucial source of data documenting the recent history of marine ecosystems and their long-term alteration by humans. However, human activities that reshape communities and habitats also alter sedimentary and biological processes that control the formation of the sedim...
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2024
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2177-2024 https://doaj.org/article/b8ee76be4e7941d1831d58cb1045e48c |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:b8ee76be4e7941d1831d58cb1045e48c 2024-09-15T18:28:13+00:00 Ideas and perspectives: Human impacts alter the marine fossil record R. Nawrot M. Zuschin A. Tomašových M. Kowalewski D. Scarponi 2024-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2177-2024 https://doaj.org/article/b8ee76be4e7941d1831d58cb1045e48c EN eng Copernicus Publications https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/21/2177/2024/bg-21-2177-2024.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4170 https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4189 doi:10.5194/bg-21-2177-2024 1726-4170 1726-4189 https://doaj.org/article/b8ee76be4e7941d1831d58cb1045e48c Biogeosciences, Vol 21, Pp 2177-2188 (2024) Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2024 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2177-2024 2024-08-05T17:49:27Z The youngest fossil record is a crucial source of data documenting the recent history of marine ecosystems and their long-term alteration by humans. However, human activities that reshape communities and habitats also alter sedimentary and biological processes that control the formation of the sedimentary archives recording those impacts. These diverse physical, geochemical, and biological disturbances include changes in sediment fluxes due to the alteration of alluvial and coastal landscapes, seabed disturbance by bottom trawling and ship traffic, ocean acidification and deoxygenation, removal of native species, and introduction of invasive ecosystem engineers. These novel processes modify sedimentation rates, the depth and intensity of sediment mixing, the pore-water saturation state, and the preservation potential of skeletal remains – the parameters controlling the completeness and spatiotemporal resolution of the fossil record. We argue that humans have become a major force transforming the nature of the marine fossil record in ways that can both impede and improve our ability to reconstruct past ecological and climate dynamics. A better understanding of the feedback between human impacts on ecosystem processes and their preservation in the marine fossil record offers new research opportunities and novel tools for interpreting geohistorical archives of the ongoing anthropogenic transformation of the coastal ocean. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ocean acidification Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Biogeosciences 21 9 2177 2188 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 |
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Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 R. Nawrot M. Zuschin A. Tomašových M. Kowalewski D. Scarponi Ideas and perspectives: Human impacts alter the marine fossil record |
topic_facet |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
The youngest fossil record is a crucial source of data documenting the recent history of marine ecosystems and their long-term alteration by humans. However, human activities that reshape communities and habitats also alter sedimentary and biological processes that control the formation of the sedimentary archives recording those impacts. These diverse physical, geochemical, and biological disturbances include changes in sediment fluxes due to the alteration of alluvial and coastal landscapes, seabed disturbance by bottom trawling and ship traffic, ocean acidification and deoxygenation, removal of native species, and introduction of invasive ecosystem engineers. These novel processes modify sedimentation rates, the depth and intensity of sediment mixing, the pore-water saturation state, and the preservation potential of skeletal remains – the parameters controlling the completeness and spatiotemporal resolution of the fossil record. We argue that humans have become a major force transforming the nature of the marine fossil record in ways that can both impede and improve our ability to reconstruct past ecological and climate dynamics. A better understanding of the feedback between human impacts on ecosystem processes and their preservation in the marine fossil record offers new research opportunities and novel tools for interpreting geohistorical archives of the ongoing anthropogenic transformation of the coastal ocean. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
R. Nawrot M. Zuschin A. Tomašových M. Kowalewski D. Scarponi |
author_facet |
R. Nawrot M. Zuschin A. Tomašových M. Kowalewski D. Scarponi |
author_sort |
R. Nawrot |
title |
Ideas and perspectives: Human impacts alter the marine fossil record |
title_short |
Ideas and perspectives: Human impacts alter the marine fossil record |
title_full |
Ideas and perspectives: Human impacts alter the marine fossil record |
title_fullStr |
Ideas and perspectives: Human impacts alter the marine fossil record |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ideas and perspectives: Human impacts alter the marine fossil record |
title_sort |
ideas and perspectives: human impacts alter the marine fossil record |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2177-2024 https://doaj.org/article/b8ee76be4e7941d1831d58cb1045e48c |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_source |
Biogeosciences, Vol 21, Pp 2177-2188 (2024) |
op_relation |
https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/21/2177/2024/bg-21-2177-2024.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4170 https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4189 doi:10.5194/bg-21-2177-2024 1726-4170 1726-4189 https://doaj.org/article/b8ee76be4e7941d1831d58cb1045e48c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2177-2024 |
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Biogeosciences |
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21 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
2177 |
op_container_end_page |
2188 |
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1810469556134608896 |