I ended my post last week with a question—why is it so hard to listen to advice? This is a key question these days, with so many people ignoring Continue reading
Author Archives: Ingo Schlupp
The new F*** word: Facts (Part 1)
Logo of the March for Science
Where to start
Science shapes our lives, especially in the Anthropocene. Everybody loves modern science … that is, until we don’t, because scientists say something we don’t like. Continue reading
Fridays for Future: A new movement
In August 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden, something utterly unremarkable happened. A student, Greta Thunberg, then 15 years old, skipped school for one day a week and Continue reading
Current Biology: The Anthropocene Special Issue
CITATION:
Current Biology. 2019 Vol. 29, No. 19: R942–R1054.
Current Biology. 2019 Vol. 29, No. 19: R942–R1054.
ON-LINE AVAILABILITY:
https://www.cell.com/curbio/issue?pii=S0960982218X00207
https://www.cell.com/curbio/issue?pii=S0960982218X00207
ABSTRACT:
This special issue of Current Biology includes a collection of Features, Reviews, Primers, Essays and Quick guides on a wide range of topics surrounding various detrimental impacts of human activity on the biosphere.
This special issue of Current Biology includes a collection of Features, Reviews, Primers, Essays and Quick guides on a wide range of topics surrounding various detrimental impacts of human activity on the biosphere.
For most biologists, inhabiting the Anthropocene also means working in it. There are very few topics in the life sciences that are not confronted with Continue reading
Urban Ecology
As we get started with our series on the urban Anthropocene, I’d like to approach the topic as a biologist, and think of cities as places filled with various kinds of life.
Continue reading
The Tragedy of Coral Bleaching
Coral bleaching of Lizard Island. Photo credit: Trond Amundsen
If you have ever been lucky enough to see a tropical reef, you will know what I mean: these are places of Continue reading
“Relative impacts of mitigation, temperature, and precipitation on 21st-century megadrought risk in the American Southwest”
CITATION:
Ault, T.R. et al. 2016. Science Advances, vol. 2, e1600873
ON-LINE AVAILABILITY:
ABSTRACT:
Megadroughts are comparable in severity to the worst droughts of the 20th century but are of much longer duration. A megadrought in the American Southwest would impose unprecedented stress on Continue reading
“How humans drive speciation as well as extinction”
CITATION:
Bull, J.W. and Maron, M. 2016. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 283: 20160600.
ON-LINE AVAILABILITY:
ABSTRACT:
A central topic for conservation science is evaluating how human activities influence global species diversity. Humanity exacerbates extinction rates. But by what mechanisms does humanity drive the emergence of new species? Continue reading
Dispatch from London: Sunken Cities
Even on a quiet day the British Museum in London is full, but on a rainy day during the summer it is positively packed, with a long line of visitors winding around the corner. Adding to the popularity at the moment is Continue reading
The real inconvenient truth?
This will not be a very scientific post, but it is also not a rant. I am trying to understand something: why is there so little large scale planning and discussion about the inevitable and grave consequences of climate change?
There is a surprising amount of Continue reading
“Beyond DNA: integrating inclusive inheritance into an extended theory of evolution”
CITATION:
E. Danchin et al. 2011. Nature Reviews Genetics, vol. 12, pp. 475-486.
ON-LINE AVAILABILITY:
ABSTRACT:
Many biologists are calling for an ‘extended evolutionary synthesis’ that would ‘modernize the modern synthesis’ of evolution. Biological information is typically considered as being transmitted across generations by the DNA sequence alone, but accumulating evidence indicates that Continue reading
“Early warning of climate tipping points”
CITATION:
Timothy M. Lenton. 2011. Nature Climate Change 1, pp. 201-209.
ON-LINE AVAILABILITY:
DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1143
ABSTRACT:
A climate ‘tipping point’ occurs when a small change in forcing triggers a strongly nonlinear response in the internal dynamics of part of the climate system, qualitatively changing its future state. Human-induced climate change could Continue reading
“Species-specific responses of Late Quartenary megafauna to climate and humans”
CITATION:
E.D. Lorenzen, et al. 2011. Nature 479, pp. 359–364.
ON-LINE AVAILABILITY:
DOI: 10.1038/nature10574
ABSTRACT:
Despite decades of research, the roles of climate and humans in driving the dramatic extinctions of large-bodied mammals during the Late Quaternary period remain contentious. Here we use ancient DNA, species distribution models and the human fossil record to Continue reading
How do memes change how we live?
In a previous post I started speculating about memes and their potential role in cultural evolution. I believe that coming to a better understanding of the way memes operate is an important part of coming to a full conception of habitability. As I argued previously, we can’t fully understand Continue reading
Reframing landscape fragmentation’s effects on ecosystem services
CITATION:
Mitchell, M. G. E. et al. 2015. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 190-198.
ON-LINE AVAILABILITY:
ABSTRACT:
Landscape structure and fragmentation have important effects on ecosystem services, with a common assumption being that fragmentation Continue reading
“Fifteen forms of biodiversity trend in the Anthropocene”
CITATION:
Brian J. McGill, et al. 2015. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 104-113.
ON-LINE AVAILABILITY:
ABSTRACT:
Humans are transforming the biosphere in unprecedented ways, raising the important question of how these impacts are changing biodiversity. Here we argue that our understanding of biodiversity trends in the Anthropocene, and our ability to protect the natural world, is impeded by Continue reading
Memes as a dimension of the human niche
THIS POST IS PART OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE ANTHROPOCENE PROJECT—SEE THIS DESCRIPTION OF OUR SUBMISSION.
Though human beings can be understood biologically, as one species among others, we have one particularly prominent, even defining, feature: Continue reading
