The development of Anthropocene biotas
Biodiversity has always responded dynamically to environmental perturbations in the geological past, through changes to the abundances and distributions of genes and species, to the composition of biological communities, and to the cover and locations of different ecosystem types. This is how the ‘n...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7017774 2023-05-15T17:51:23+02:00 The development of Anthropocene biotas Thomas, Chris D. 2020-03-16 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7017774/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31983342 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0113 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7017774/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31983342 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0113 © 2020 The Author(s) http://royalsocietypublishing.org/licence Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci Articles Text 2020 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0113 2021-03-21T01:18:29Z Biodiversity has always responded dynamically to environmental perturbations in the geological past, through changes to the abundances and distributions of genes and species, to the composition of biological communities, and to the cover and locations of different ecosystem types. This is how the ‘nature’ that exists today has survived. The same is true in the Anthropocene. The entire planet surface has been altered by humans, ranging from direct vegetation transformation and removal of most of the world's megafauna, through to atmospheric changes in greenhouse gasses and consequent climatic changes and ocean acidification. These anthropogenic perturbations have led to the establishment of genes and species in new locations, thus generating novel communities and ecosystems. In this historical context, recent biological changes should be seen as responses to multiple drivers of change, rather than being a problem per se. These changes are the means by which the biosphere is adjusting to and will ultimately survive the Anthropocene. Thus, management and conservation of the biological world, and our place in it, requires a transition from trying to minimize biological change to one in which we facilitate dynamism that accelerates the rates at which species and ecosystems adjust to human-associated drivers of change. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions’. Text Ocean acidification PubMed Central (PMC) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 375 1794 20190113 |
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Articles Thomas, Chris D. The development of Anthropocene biotas |
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Biodiversity has always responded dynamically to environmental perturbations in the geological past, through changes to the abundances and distributions of genes and species, to the composition of biological communities, and to the cover and locations of different ecosystem types. This is how the ‘nature’ that exists today has survived. The same is true in the Anthropocene. The entire planet surface has been altered by humans, ranging from direct vegetation transformation and removal of most of the world's megafauna, through to atmospheric changes in greenhouse gasses and consequent climatic changes and ocean acidification. These anthropogenic perturbations have led to the establishment of genes and species in new locations, thus generating novel communities and ecosystems. In this historical context, recent biological changes should be seen as responses to multiple drivers of change, rather than being a problem per se. These changes are the means by which the biosphere is adjusting to and will ultimately survive the Anthropocene. Thus, management and conservation of the biological world, and our place in it, requires a transition from trying to minimize biological change to one in which we facilitate dynamism that accelerates the rates at which species and ecosystems adjust to human-associated drivers of change. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions’. |
format |
Text |
author |
Thomas, Chris D. |
author_facet |
Thomas, Chris D. |
author_sort |
Thomas, Chris D. |
title |
The development of Anthropocene biotas |
title_short |
The development of Anthropocene biotas |
title_full |
The development of Anthropocene biotas |
title_fullStr |
The development of Anthropocene biotas |
title_full_unstemmed |
The development of Anthropocene biotas |
title_sort |
development of anthropocene biotas |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7017774/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31983342 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0113 |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_source |
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7017774/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31983342 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0113 |
op_rights |
© 2020 The Author(s) http://royalsocietypublishing.org/licence Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0113 |
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Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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375 |
container_issue |
1794 |
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20190113 |
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