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   Location:Home > Research > Research Progress
Ecologists and conservation biologists change thinking by Anthropocene concept
Author: XTBG
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Update time: 2014-12-09
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The geological period that we are currently in is called the Holocene, and has so far lasted for 11,700 years, since the end of the last ice age. However, many environmental parameters are now outside their Holocene ranges, including greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean acidity, the global nitrogen cycle, extinction rates, and the spread of invasive species. It has therefore been suggested that we are no longer in the Holocene, but in a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, marked by human impacts that are at least as important as natural processes. 

     The term Anthropocene has been increasingly widely adopted in the earth and environmental science literature, as well as in the environmental social sciences, and has had increasing media coverage. However, the start of the period it refers to has not yet been agreed. Choosing an agreed start date is the major practical problem with the Anthropocene concept, which would probably put an end to the current highly varied and informal use of the term in ecology and conservation biology, as well as in other fields. 

 By consulting a large amount of literature, a professorof Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) looked at the impact of the Anthropocene concept on ecology and conservation biology, and assessed the likely consequences of formalization.  

 In ecology, the Anthropocene concept has focused attention on human-dominated habitats and novel ecosystems, and there has been considerable debate about the consequences of abandoning the steady-state assumptions that have previously underpinned ecological theory. In conservation biology, the concept has sparked an often acrimonious debate on the continued relevance of the traditional biocentric aims of the discipline, i.e. putting species and ecosystems first.

The researcher concluded that the Anthropocene concept has been a useful shorthand for anthropogenic global change and suggested that a post-1945 start date would be most appropriate for ecology and conservation.  

The study entitled “The Anthropocene concept in ecology and conservation” has been published online in Trends in Ecology & Evolution.  

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Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China
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