On the Way to the Fluvial Anthroposphere—Current Limitations and Perspectives of Multidisciplinary Research

Abstract

Floodplains represent a global hotspot of sensitive socioenvironmental changes and early human forcing mechanisms. In this review, we focus on the environmental conditions of preindustrial floodplains in Central Europe and the fluvial societies that operated there. Due to their high land-use capacity and the simultaneous necessity of land reclamation and risk minimisation, societies have radically restructured the Central European floodplains. According to the current scientific consensus, up to 95% of Central European floodplains have been extensively restructured or destroyed. Therefore, question arises as to whether or when it is justified to understand Central European floodplains as a ‘Fluvial Anthroposphere’. The case studies available to date show that human-induced impacts on floodplain morphologies and environments and the formation of specific fluvial societies reveal fundamental changes in the medieval and preindustrial modern periods. We aim to contribute to disentangling the questions of when and why humans became a significant controlling factor in Central European floodplain formation, and how humans in interaction with natural processes and other chains of effects have modified floodplains. As a conclusion, we superimpose emerging fields of research concerning the onset of the Fluvial Anthroposphere and provide 10 specific thematic objectives for future multidisciplinary work.

Rivers help us to quantify the socio-ecological functioning of their basin at the Anthropocene: the Seine example (1850–2020)

“…We thus have considered the technical, economic, and cultural components of the basin, along with the waterdedicated institutions, water users, operating rules, power relations, water laws, norms and regulations [Bouleau and Pont, 2015, Bouleau et al, 2009. Each of these subsystems operates on specific time and space scales, and are all interacting between them, as a coevolutionary coupled human-nature system [Savenije et al, 2014, Sivapalan et al, 2012, Werther et al, 2021, Wesselink et al, 2017.…”

Faunal Remains from Archaeological Sites Document Human Impact on the Terrestrial and Aquatic Environment: examples from the last thousand years in Belgium

“…A creditable attempt was made to illustrate the potential of archaeozoological (Galik et al 2015) and historical data (Haidvogel et al 2015) in order to understand the evolution of the fish fauna of large central European rivers such as the Danube. Recently, joint efforts for such multidisciplinary research have been rewarded by funding agencies such as the DFG, showing that there is gradually a growing awareness of the power of a common approach (Werther et al 2021). Hopefully, similar initiatives will become even more numerous in the future and help in the definition of baselines, the development of management plans for habitat restoration and conservation.…”

The Lower Havel River Region (Brandenburg, Germany): A 230-Year-Long Historical Map Record Indicates a Decrease in Surface Water Areas and Groundwater Levels

“…The tables form the basis for the subsequently conducted semi-quantitative approach for the spatiotemporal assessment of past human activities in floodplains and wetlands. We consider this initial semi-quantitative approach to be a helpful tool for developing a better understanding of past human activities on the way to the "Fluvial Anthroposphere" [112].…”