It has become commonplace to remark that humans are now the dominant environmental force on the Earth. The indications are strong and diverse. They range from paleontologists reaching a consensus that humans contributed to megafaunal extinctions on at least two continents, North America and Australia (Barnosky et al. 2004); recognition that formerly intact marine ecosystems have changed enormou...

An offi cial committee now ponders the question of whether human impacts have derailed the Earth system suffi ciently to declare the beginning of a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Meanwhile, researchers have updated and improved two infl uential assessments of our global status, namely the ‘planetary boundaries’ and the ‘great acceleration’ graphs. Michael Gross reports. Assessing human...

Two fundamental axes - space and time - shape ecological systems. Over the last 30 years spatial ecology has developed as an integrative, multidisciplinary science that has improved our understanding of the ecological consequences of habitat fragmentation and loss. We argue that accelerating climate change - the effective manipulation of time by humans - has generated a current need to build an...

This article discusses the societal responses to the Anthropocene. First we need to confront the effects of our own population proliferation in all its aspects; next to look again at economics and replace consumerism as a goal; then to work out new ways of generating energy; to manage and adapt to what is in effect climate destabilization; to give higher priority to conservation of the natural ...

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