Planetary‐scale change to the biosphere signalled by global species translocations can be used to identify the Anthropocene

Abstract

We examine three distinctive biostratigraphic signatures of humans associated with hunting and gathering, landscape domestication and globalization. All three signatures have significant fossil records of regional importance that can be correlated inter‐regionally and help describe the developing pattern of human expansion and appropriation of resources. While none have individual first or last appearances that provide a globally isochronous marker, all three signatures overlap stratigraphically, in that they are part of a continuum of change, with complex regional patterns. Here we show that during the later stages of globalization, late nineteenth to twentieth century records of species translocations can be used to build an interconnected web of palaeontological correlation with decadal or sub‐decadal precision that dovetails with other stratigraphic markers for the Anthropocene. This palaeontological web is also a proxy for accelerating species extinction and of a state shift in the biosphere in the twentieth century.

Candidate sites and other reference sections for the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point of the Anthropocene series

“…An important range of proxies of anthropogenically-driven change, coincident with the Great Acceleration curves, were recognised in geological strata. These include novel markers associated with radionuclides from above-ground nuclear detonations (Waters et al, 2015), fly ash (Rose, 2015), microplastics (Zalasiewicz et al, 2016), fundamental indicators of carbon-nitrogen-sulphur cycle changes such as nitrogen isotopes and diatoms (Wolfe et al, 2013) and biodiversity changes involving species losses, translocations of species and expansion of domesticated species (Williams et al, 2022). A summary of the identified patterns (Waters et al, 2016) clearly showed that that the presence and/or magnitude of these proxies departed from the range of Holocene variability, hence justifying the Anthropocene at series/ epoch rank.…”

The Anthropocene as an epoch is distinct from all other concepts known by this term: a reply to Swindles et al. (2023)

“…For example, ongoing rapid and irreversible biotic changes such as accelerated extinctions and translocations evident in the sediment record since the mid‐20th century will translate into an even more dramatic change in palaeontological patterns in the future (e.g. Williams et al, 2022). Moreover, forward‐modelled climate projections at various timescales from a few centuries (Arias et al, 2021) to tens of thousands of years (Ganopolski et al, 2016; Talento and Ganopolski, 2021) indicate a suspension of the normal glacial–interglacial climate pattern continuing 50 kyr or more into the future.…”

The proposed Anthropocene Epoch/Series is underpinned by an extensive array of mid‐20th century stratigraphic event signals

“…They include the appearance of novel components such as radionuclides in fallout from atmospheric nuclear testing, pesticides and plastics, marked upturns in concentrations of CO 2 , CH 4 , heavy metals including Pb, fly ash particulates, black carbon, non-sea-salt-sulphur, increasing rates of species extinction and rapid inter-biogeographical translocations of non-native species, and the effects of temperature and sea-level rises, shifts in δ 13 C and δ 15 N and reduced fluvial sediment flux (e.g. Waters et al, 2016;Syvitski et al, 2020;Head et al, 2021a;Williams et al, 2022). Geological events are thus not an alternative to chronostratigraphy, but rather they offer crucial contextualization and commonly assist in definition.…”

“…They have been exhaustively detailed (e.g. Waters et al, 2016;Zalasiewicz et al, 2019;Head et al, 2021a;Syvitski et al, 2020Syvitski et al, , 2022Williams et al, 2022) and can help characterize and define a synchronous, globally traceable Holocene-Anthropocene boundary, in exactly the same way that a carbon isotope event characterizes the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, and a bolide event effectively defines the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.…”

“…Human-and especially technology-driven changes are already profound as regards their rates (IPBES, 2019; IPCC, 2021) and magnitudes (Waters et al, 2016;Head et al, 2021a), producing major impacts on five great Earth spheresthe biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and the surface of the lithosphere. Direct human perturbation of the biosphere combined with global warming are driving rapid changes in ecosystem function and biological communities (Williams et al, 2016), with increasing rates of species extinctions since the beginning of the 20 th century (Ceballos et al, 2015), severe declines in vertebrate populations from the 20 th century onwards (Ceballos et al, 2017(Ceballos et al, , 2020WWF, 2020), unprecedented and irreversible homogenization of once distinct biogeographic assemblages (Williams et al, 2022), a dramatic increase in a wide range of anthropogenically derived contaminants, and rapidly increasing global atmospheric surface temperature since 1970 (Sippel et al, 2021). The late 20 th and early 21 st centuries also saw changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns; warming of the upper ocean, rising sea level and coastal erosion; acidification of the oceans and the spread of oxygen-deficient 'dead zones'; increasingly severe extreme weather events such as heatwaves (terrestrial and marine), tropical cyclones, wildfires, and intense rainfall and flooding; a trajectory towards increasing megadroughts; and wholesale retreat of the cryosphere.…”