Welcome to the Arbustocene

The beginning and end of each geological epoch is marked by a major, often cataclysmic, event affecting Earth?s biophysical environment. Most often major periods in Earth?s history requiring a new epoch to be named are remarkable by the mass extinction of dominant life forms and their eventual replacement by new groups of organisms which then dominate Earth?s ecosystems. Only once in pre-history were these spectacular evolutionary events precipitated by a physical or chemical change to Earth?s atmosphere as a result of biological activity. This occurred early in Earth?s history with the release of ?polluting? oxygen after the evolution of photosynthesis. More frequently, punctuations in the evolution of life have been brought on by some virtually instantaneous disruption to climate by extreme volcanic activity or an asteroid strike, such as that which heralded the end of dinosaurs and the dawn of the age of mammals. In these instances, changes to the capacity of Earth?s atmosphere to absorb and reflect light and heat from the Sun initiated a period of rapid global climate change leaving insufficient time for organisms to migrate or adapt.

Download Full-text

Global climate change driven by soot at the K-Pg boundary as the cause of the mass extinction

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/srep28427 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Kunio Kaiho ◽

Naga Oshima ◽

Kouji Adachi ◽

Yukimasa Adachi ◽

Takuya Mizukami ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Climate Change ◽

Mass Extinction ◽

Global Climate

Download Full-text

Parsing human and biophysical drivers of coral reef regimes

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2018.2544 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 286 (1896) ◽

pp. 20182544 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Jean-Baptiste Jouffray ◽

Lisa M. Wedding ◽

Albert V. Norström ◽

Mary K. Donovan ◽

Gareth J. Williams ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Coral Reef ◽

Global Climate Change ◽

Global Climate ◽

Benthic Communities ◽

Social Processes ◽

Natural Setting ◽

Effective Management ◽

Management Interventions ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Biophysical Environment

Coral reefs worldwide face unprecedented cumulative anthropogenic effects of interacting local human pressures, global climate change and distal social processes. Reefs are also bound by the natural biophysical environment within which they exist. In this context, a key challenge for effective management is understanding how anthropogenic and biophysical conditions interact to drive distinct coral reef configurations. Here, we use machine learning to conduct explanatory predictions on reef ecosystems defined by both fish and benthic communities. Drawing on the most spatially extensive dataset available across the Hawaiian archipelago—20 anthropogenic and biophysical predictors over 620 survey sites—we model the occurrence of four distinct reef regimes and provide a novel approach to quantify the relative influence of human and environmental variables in shaping reef ecosystems. Our findings highlight the nuances of what underpins different coral reef regimes, the overwhelming importance of biophysical predictors and how a reef's natural setting may either expand or narrow the opportunity space for management interventions. The methods developed through this study can help inform reef practitioners and hold promises for replication across a broad range of ecosystems.

Download Full-text