Reinhold Leinfelder- Univ. Professor, Dr. rer.nat. habil., Dipl.Geol.
- Professor Emeritus at Freie Universität Berlin
Reinhold Leinfelder
- Univ. Professor, Dr. rer.nat. habil., Dipl.Geol.
- Professor Emeritus at Freie Universität Berlin
Earth History, Fossil, Recent and Future Reefs, Anthropocene, Future Research, Science Communication of Complex Topics
About
344
Publications
211,621
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Introduction
I am a geologist, paleontologist, geobiologist, and science communicator, doing research on the Past, Presence and Future of Reefs, the Anthropocene, interaction between nature, culture, society, futures literacy, and new methods of communication and education of complex topics, incl. exhibitions, science comics/graphic novels.
See more at http://reinhold-leinfelder.de (also for publications).
Current institution
Additional affiliations
September 2014 - September 2016
Futurium (formerly Haus der Zukunft )gGmbH
Position
- Managing Director
Description
- See http://www.futurium.de
November 2022 - present
Position
- Affiliate Teacher and Project Researcher (EU-Erasmus+ CultureNature-Literacy
June 2012 - present
Anthropocene Working Group (SQS/ICS)
Position
- Member of The Anthropocene Working Group
Description
- http://quaternary.stratigraphy.org/workinggroups/anthropocene/
Education
October 1975 - December 1980
Publications
Publications (344)
Human activity is leaving a pervasive and persistent signature on Earth. Vigorous debate continues about whether this warrants recognition as a new geologic time unit known as the Anthropocene. We review anthropogenic markers of functional changes in the Earth system through the stratigraphic record. The appearance of manufactured materials in sedi...
Stratigraphy provides insights into the evolution and dynamics of the Earth System over
its long history. With recent developments in Earth System science, changes in Earth System dynamics can now be observed directly and projected into the near future. An integration of the two approaches provides powerful insights into the nature and significance...
(Excerpts from text) … Reefs as ecosystems have shown pronounced evolutionary changes as well as marked adaptation to distinct but changing ecological reef settings, and they hence were prone to reflect large-scale synchronous global impacts as well as regional ecological changes. Therefore, extensive episodes of global reef decline during major Ea...
Growth in fundamental drivers—energy use, economic productivity and population—can provide quantitative indications of the proposed boundary between the Holocene Epoch and the Anthropocene. Human energy expenditure in the Anthropocene, ~22 zetajoules (ZJ), exceeds that across the prior 11,700 years of the Holocene (~14.6 ZJ), largely through combus...
The "Great Acceleration" beginning in the mid-20th century provides the causal mechanism of the Anthro-pocene, which has been proposed as a new epoch of geological time beginning in 1952 CE. Here we identify key parameters and their diagnostic palaeontological signals of the Anthropocene, including the rapid breakdown of discrete biogeographical ra...
Besides the original version in English, the open access eBook Tregardot et al. 2024 is also available in other languages: French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan. via: https://macobios.eu/prp/other-products/#ComicBook
This Science Comic was created by members of the EU 2020-research project 'Marine Coastal Ecosystems - Biodiversity and Services in a Changing World' as part of the project outputs. This eBook is open access and can be read or downloaded via https://macobios.eu/prp/other-products/#ComicBook . See file for an excerpt. Versions in other languages wil...
From the Abstract: The technosphere sensu Peter Haff [12] has auton- omous qualities, being not so much human-directed as incorporating dependent, strongly divided human soci- eties, while parasitizing its parent biosphere for energy and materials. By far the most recent and rapidly evolving of Earth’s ‘spheres’, it is also the most unsta- ble, rec...
From the Abstract: The Anthropocene is a particularly powerful con- ceptual tool, and encapsulates the complex intercon- nectivity of all the ‘-spheres’ on this planet. It quickly became a key framing concept for Earth System re- searchers. From this, and from its subsequent geologi- cal analysis, it grew to spark off considerable cross- disciplina...
From the Abstract: The biogeophysical and socio-political knowledge of the Anthropocene, while transforming our understanding of the Earth System, is also renewing our understanding of human existence and raising questions about education at a time when profound existential challenges are looming. These issues are now inextricably linked. Human exi...
We synthesize research from complementary scientific fields to address the likely future extent and duration of the proposed Anthropocene epoch. Intensification of human-forced climate change began from about 1970 onwards with steepening increases in greenhouse gases, ocean acidification, global temperature and sea level, along with ice loss. The r...
Increasing human interactions with the biosphere over tens of millennia have left a fossil record that shows the growing geographical spread and technological sophistication of humans evident in patterns of extinction and domestication of the landscape and its plants and animals. Here, we focus on the "Great Acceleration" of the mid-20th century (e...
Applying the basic principles of carbon chemistry and physics, along with a comprehensive understanding of past climate change, Steffen and colleagues confirmed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, in 2018, that fossil fuel usage and resulting carbon emissions will cause substantial global warming into future millennia. The c...
A common sense: The Anthropocene was originally understood by Crutzen as not only representing humanity’s influence on Earth’s geological record (he was well aware of earlier anthropogenic impacts), but also reflecting a system with physical characteristics that had, since widespread industrialization, departed from the prolonged, relatively stable...
Introduction: Geology as an organized science is little more than two centuries old (Rudwick 2014), a newcomer compared with academic disciplines such as mathematics, philosophy - and indeed ethics. It has been a practical newcomer, too. Even among its 18th-century roots, references to resources, and their exploitation, are common. The Comte de Buf...
This is just a machine translation of an our German paper on Science Comics/Graphic Science Novels:
Leinfelder, R., Hamann, A. & Kirstein, J. (2015): Wissenschaftliche Sachcomics: Multimodale Bildsprache, partizipative Wissensgenerierung und raumzeitliche Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten.- In: Bredekamp, H. & Schäffner, W. (eds.), Haare hören - Strukturen...
Abstract: The “Great Acceleration” of the mid-20th century provides the causal mechanism of the Anthropocene, which has been proposed as a new epoch of geological time beginning in 1952 CE. Here we identify key parameters and their diagnostic palaeontological signals of the Anthropocene, including the rapid breakdown of discrete biogeographical ran...
Over the past weeks, the media have been full of reports and opinion pieces on the decision of the SQS/ICS/IUGS, i.e. the committees responsible for formalising an Anthropocene epoch for the geological chronostratigraphic time chart. To the surprise of many, these committees now did not want to open a new chapter in the book of Earth History. Some...
The Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) has concluded that the Anthropocene represents geological reality and should be linked with the plethora of stratigraphic proxies that initiate or show marked perturbations at around the 1950s, and should be defined using a Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP). We propose formalizing the Anthropoc...
This part of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) submission proposes that the base of the Anthropocene should be defined as series/epoch, terminating the Holocene Series/Epoch with a single Crawfordian stage/age using a Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) in an annually varved Crawford Lake core, Ontario, Canada, defined at 17.5 cm...
Abstract: We synthesize research from complementary scientific fields to address the likely extent and duration of the proposed Anthropocene epoch. Ongoing intensification of human-forced climate change began in the mid-20th century, with steepening increases in greenhouse gases, ocean acidification, global temperature and sea level, along with the...
This is the Executive Summary of a report produced by the membership of the Anthropocene Working Group as part of a submission to the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy to seek formalisation of the Anthropocene as an epoch of geological time. It summarises the content of two reports and their associated appendices which provide a background t...
The Anthropocene as a prospective new, ongoing series/epoch must be defensible against all relevant concerns. We address the seven, still-relevant challenges posed to the Anthropocene Working Group by the Chair, International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), in 2014. (1) Concept or reality? The Anthropocene possesses a substantial, sharply distinc...
In integrated ecosystem assessment projects, scenarios provide alternative images of environmental futures as orientation knowledge for opinion-forming and decision-making. Participatory scenario frameworks provide the methodological basis for ecosystem scenario building as multi-stakeholder process. These processes combine scientific assessment of...
About the contents: The long time of Earth history was untamed until "geo-earthlings" divided it into sequences and tied it into a rigid corset, the chronostratigraphic map of Earth history. This scientific graphic novel then sheds light on how Earth history periods differ and how they can be defined. Since 1950, human impact on the Earth system ha...
Die Wechselwirkungen und Interdependenzen von Mensch und Natur sind ein komplexes Geschehen. Um die Mensch-Natur-Beziehungen verständlich und Perspektivenvielfalt möglich zu machen, kommt der Wissenschaftskommunikation eine bedeutsame Rolle für CultureNature Literacy zu. Dieser Beitrag zeigt an Beispielen – der grafischen Darstellung der planetaren...
Das Anthropozän ist ein geologischer Fachbegriff für das ‚Erdzeitalter des Menschen‘. Die von den Anthropozänwissenschaften erforschten Daten und Fakten bilden die Grundlage für ein notwendiges Neudenken der Mensch-Natur-Beziehung. Der Beitrag stellt das Anthropozän als transdisziplinäres Konzept vor, das die Grundlage für CultureNature Literacy al...
1. Einleitung: Die Herausforderungen für die heutigen menschlichen Gesellschaften sind immens, sowohl hinsichtlich der Anzahl der Problemfelder, als auch hinsichtlich ihrer gegenseitigen Bedingtheiten und Wechselwirkungen sowie ihrer möglichen Lösungsansätze. Vieles davon sind Zukunftsaufgaben, die jetzt begonnen, aber über einen größeren Zeitraum...
Swindles et al. (2023) correctly point out that there are many conceptions of the ‘Anthropocene’ in use, and they argue that this flexibility in terminology is desirable. We agree that the multiple uses of this term have stimulated much scholarly debate, but we contend that precision in terminology is far more desirable than vagueness, and promotes...
Der enorme Fußabdruck der Menschheit auf die Biosphäre und das gesamte Erdsystem ist mittlerweile global nachweisbar. So sind die eisfreien Regionen der festen Erde schon zu ca. 75% keine Urnatur mehr. Landwirtschaftlich genutzte Flächen haben bei weitem den höchsten Anteil daran1. 96% der (kohlenstoff-basierten) Biomasse aller Säugetiere fallen au...
Merritts et al. (2023) misrepresent Paul Crutzen’s Anthropocene concept as encompassing all significant anthropogenic impacts, extending back many millennia. Crutzen’s definition reflects massively enhanced, much more recent human impacts that transformed the Earth System away from the stability of Holocene conditions.
His concept of an epoch (henc...
Event stratigraphy is used to help characterise the Anthropocene as a chronostratigraphic concept, based on analogous deep-time events, for which we provide a novel categorization. Events in stratigraphy are distinct from extensive, time-transgressive ‘episodes’ – such as the global, highly diachronous record of anthropogenic change, termed here an...
Event stratigraphy is used to help characterise the Anthropocene as a chronostratigraphic concept, based on analogous deep-time events, for which we provide a novel categorization. Events in stratigraphy are distinct from extensive, time-transgressive ‘episodes’ – such as the global, highly diachronous record of anthropogenic change, termed here an...
Event stratigraphy is used to help characterise the Anthropocene as a chronostratigraphic concept, based on analogous deep-time events, for which we provide a novel categorization. Events in stratigraphy are distinct from extensive, time-transgressive ‘episodes’ – such as the global, highly diachronous record of anthropogenic change, termed here an...
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 interregionally and help describe the developing pattern of human expansion and appropriation of reso...
The extensive array of mid-20 th century stratigraphic event signals associated with the 'Great Acceleration' enables precise and unambiguous recognition of the Anthropocene as an epoch/series within the Geological Time Scale. A mid-20 th century inception is consistent with Earth System science analysis in which the Anthropocene term and concept a...
The Anthropocene defined as an epoch/series within the Geological Time Scale, and with an isochronous inception in the mid-20th century, would both utilize the rich array of stratigraphic signals associated with the Great Acceleration and align with Earth System science analysis from where the term Anthropocene originated. It would be stratigraphic...
Interview-contribution for a new german Geography school book (secondary school level) In: Diercke Geographie, Oberstufe, Ausgabe 2022 Schleswig-Holstein, Schülerband, S. 22-23. Diercke-Geographie-Reihe, Westermann-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-14-100910-1. (release date 16 June 2022), see here for preview of the entire book https://www.westermann.de/artikel/...
Extinction, coupled with many other biological signals, is a major geological indicator of the Anthropocene. The introduction of non-native species, deforestation, depletion of fisheries and modification of coastal environments, domestication of animals, and the reconfiguration of terrestrial ecosystems are all evident in the geological record and...
This is possibly the first (or one of the first?) children book on the Anthropocene, from 8 years onwards. For more on the project (incl. the Anthropocene song) see https://www.ph-noe.ac.at/de/forschung/forschung-und-entwicklung/anthropozaen/mutmachbuch ,
For publication of this foreword see https://www.ph-noe.ac.at/fileadmin/root_phnoe/Mitarbeite...
Die Menschheit hat ihren gesamten Umgang mit der Natur industrialisiert, um möglichst gut von ihr zu leben, aber auch um sich vor der Unbill der Natur mit technischen Mitteln zu schützen. Sowohl gutes als auch sicheres Leben stehen zwischenzeitlich auf dem Spiel. Um beides weiter zu sichern, müssten wir das Erdsystem so mitgestalten, dass es die Me...
Eine anpassungsfähige, von erneuerbaren Energien gespeiste Kreislaufwirtschaft ist der Schlüssel für die Vereinbarkeit von Öko- und Technosphäre. Damit der blaue Planet technologisch nicht aus allen Nähten platzt und auch künftig menschliche Ge- sellschaften beherbergen kann, ist konsequentes Umsteuern dringend nötig. Eine Bestandsaufnahme.
Κλιματική αλλαγή, Ανθρωπόκαινος, εκπομπές διοξειδίου του άνθρακα, Σύνοδος Κορυφής του Ρίο, αιολικά πάρκα, συμπαραγωγή ηλεκτρισμού και θερμότητας, ερημοποίηση, αφανισμός ειδών, ενεργειακή νομοθεσία και πρωτοπόροι της αλλα- γής – τι σημαίνουν όλα αυτά και πώς συνδέονται μεταξύ τους; Σ’ αυτές τις ερωτήσεις, και σε πολλές άλλες, δίνει απαντήσεις αυτό τ...
Mit dem gesellschaftlichen Wandel kommen traditionelle Arbeitsweisen von Museen zunehmend an ihre Grenzen: Die Rahmenbedingungen für das Management von Kulturinstitutionen verändern sich grundlegend. Dennoch sind Themen wie Cultural Entrepreneur- und Leadership, Design Thinking und künstliche Intelligenz immer noch nur Randerscheinungen des Museums...
(Last paragraph of paper): Im Kontext des Anthropozäns sollten Museen also durch eine Verknüpfung visueller, szenografischer, narrativer, explorativer und partizipativer Ansätze dazu beitragen können, das Potential eigener Gestaltungsfähigkeit zu unterstreichen und damit persönlichen Lebensgeschichten eine erweiterte Sinnhaftigkeit zu geben. Ein st...
The Anthropocene was conceptualized in 2000 to reflect the extensive impact of human activities on our planet, and subsequent detailed analyses have revealed a sub- stantial Earth System response to these impacts begin- ning in the mid-20th century. Key to this understanding was the discovery of a sharp upturn in a multitude of global socio-economi...
Tropische Korallenriffe gelten als stark bedroht. Umweltverschmutzung, Überfischung und nicht zuletzt die Klimakrise setzen ihnen arg zu. Wie lassen sie sich schützen?
...
Einen Königsweg zur Rettung der Riffe gibt es nicht, vielmehr brauchen wir ein ganzes Maßnahmenpaket, um sie weiter zu erhalten. Allerdings bleiben sämtliche Bemü-hungen wirkungs...
At the end of last year, on the occasion of the publication of an exciting new study, several reports went through the press such as "Human-made stuff now outweighs all life on Earth" (Scientific American), "Human-made materials now weigh more than the Earth's entire biomass" (The Guardian) or "Human-made mass exceeds biomass for the first time in...
The term Anthropocene initially emerged from the Earth System science community in
the early 2000s, denoting a concept that the Holocene Epoch has terminated as a consequence of human activities. First associated with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, it was then more closely linked
with the Great Acceleration in industrialization and globali...
This is the original keynote abstract in German for the symposium "Kulturelle Nachhaltigkeit lernen und lehren“ at Pädagogischen Hochschule Niederösterreich, April 2021. Title: „Auch Maschinen haben Hunger“ - Biosphäre als Modell für die Technosphäre im Anthropozän. For an extended english version containing figs see https://www.researchgate.net/pu...
All organisms produce and consume. This requires basic building blocks and energy. In the plant kingdom, organic materials are produced with the help of solar energy from recycled building blocks in the soil ("nutrients") as well as carbon dioxide (Fig. 1). Animals consume existing organic material, be it plant or animal, living or dead, in order t...
Stratigraphy provides insights into the evolution and dynamics of the Earth System over its long history. With recent developments in Earth System science, changes in Earth System dynamics can now be observed directly and projected into the near future. An integration of the two approaches provides powerful insights into the nature and significance...
Eine zunehmend komplexere Welt erfordert eine Bildung, die Kausalitäten, Interdependenzen und Dynamiken in Umwelt und Gesellschaften verbindet. Das Anthropozän-Konzept mit seinen analytischen Ebenen sowie seiner konsequentialen Metaebene erscheint gut geeignet, derartiges systemisches Wissen fachspezifisch und fächerübergreifend in den Unterricht e...
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Supplementary material to Syvitski et al. 2020, see https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344685697_Extraordinary_human_energy_consumption_and_resultant_geological_impacts_beginning_around_1950_CE_initiated_the_proposed_Anthropocene_Epoch
Berlin, October 2, 2020 | Scientists for Future (S4F) confirm that the demands of Fridays for Future (FFF) on EU politics are factually necessary and scientifically justified. According to IPCC calculations , the EU27 will have a residual budget for emissions of 20 Gt CO from 2021 to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees. An 80% reductio...
Fazit: Das Anthropozän-Konzept ist eine umfassende konzeptionelle „toolbox“ zur systemischen Analyse, zum interdisziplinären Monitoring und für ein neues Verständnis des gigantischen derzeitigen Einflusses menschlicher Aktivitäten auf das Erdsystem. Gleichzeitig impliziert es weder eine fatalistische Hinnahme einer Apokalypse, noch fördert es einen...
Die ganze Stärke des Anthropozän-Konzeptes liegt darin, eine Arena für ein wissensbasiertes, zukunftsverantwortliches Gestalten des Erdsystems zu schaffen. Geologisch gesprochen: Diese Erdepoche hat gerade erst begonnen. Es liegt auch in den Händen der Wissenschaften, darunter der Geowissenschaften, sie mitzugestalten. Man kann das Anthropozän-Konz...
Problemlage: Schulisches Lernen hat einen hohen gesellschaftlichen Stellenwert. Allerdings ist auch der Ruf nach methodischer Überarbeitung unüberhörbar, denn die Erwartungen an die Schulen sind hoch:
So sollen heute frontaler Unterricht zugunsten von Gruppen- und Projektarbeit abgebaut, strukturierte Problembewältigungsstrategien erarbeitet, und i...
Coral reefs are highly complex, severely threatened geobiological systems characterized by complicated resilience, feedback and tipping-point patterns. Outreach and education should not simplify but rather emphasize this fascinating complexity and systemic behavior. The same is true of the complex, highly interactive temporal and spatial patters of...
Interview zum Anthropozän. Stephanie Schwaderer interviewt Reinhold Leinfelder anlässlich der Anthropozän-Thementage in der Stiftung Nantesbuch
Kennen Sie das? Sie schauen einen Film und sind gleichzeitig fasziniert, berührt und verstört. Und das, obwohl Sie im Prinzip schon alles wussten. So ging es mir jedenfalls, als ich den Film „Anthropocene – The Human Epoch“
(Der Artikel schildert persönliche Impressionen nach dem Screening des Films 'Anthropocene - The Human Epoch' (Burtynsky et a...
…. Zu den in Wechselwirkung stehenden Erdsystemsphären (Lithosphäre, Pedosphäre, Hydrosphäre, Biosphäre und Atmosphäre) ist durch unsere, seit der Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts extrem beschleunigte Eingriffe in die Natur, eine weitere Sphäre dazugekommen: Die Anthroposphäre. Wir sind im Anthropozän, einem neuen geologischen Zeitalter angekommen, in de...
The Anthropocene concept is a comprehensive conceptual "toolbox" for systemic analysis, interdisciplinary monitoring and a new understanding of the gigantic current impact of human activities on the Earth system. At the same time, it neither implies a fatalistic acceptance of an apocalypse, nor does it promote a simplistic "everything will be fine"...
This is the new intro of the editors to the 3rd edition of the book which originally has been published in 2013. See: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257608618_Die_Grosse_Transformation_Klima_-_Kriegen_wir_die_Kurve (in German)
for english book version see https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265383287_The_Great_Transformation_Climate_...
Although humans had an increasing environmental impact ever since they went out of Africa, their place of origin, it was only the great acceleration of socioeconomic development since the mid-20 century that has added the gigantic human footprint onto the Earth System spheres. As a consequence, differences between nature and culture have largely va...
Leinfelder, R. (2019, in press): Das Anthropozän - Die Erde in unserer Hand.- In: Schwinger, E. (ed.) Das Anthropozän im Diskurs der Fachdisziplinen. Weimar bei Marburg (Metropolis-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-7316-1394-7).
(For more info see https://www.metropolis-verlag.de/Das-Anthropozaen-im-Diskurs-der-Fachdisziplinen/1394/book.do )
Leinfelder, R. (2019): Das Anthropozän - Die Erde in unserer Hand.- In: Schwinger, E. (ed.) Das Anthropozän im Diskurs der Fachdisziplinen, . S.-23-46 Weimar bei Marburg (Metropolis-Verlag, ).
(For more info see https://www.metropolis-verlag.de/Das-Anthropozaen-im-Diskurs-der-Fachdisziplinen/1394/book.do )
1.3.-2 Palaeoclimate reconstruction using aquatic high-resolution archives 26 between 3°C and 10°C. We suggest that this is not only related to occurring vital effect during elemental incorporation of the corals, but also due to oceanographic changes. Reconstructed temperatures and Ba/ Ca ratios show an 11-year variability. We suggest that this var...
Palaeoclimate reconstructions are crucial to understand the climatic and oceanic system. Coral geochemical proxy archives provide excellent high-resolution reconstructions of several climatic and hydrological parameters. Here, we investigate subfossil (~6200-7100 years old) Siderastrea sp. and Pseudodiploria sp. corals from a pristine Mid-Holocene...
Auszug: Wir sind im Anthropozän […] angekommen, in dem alles mit allem zusammenhängt. Und wir, mittendrin, verheddern alles. […] Dieser Befund ist gleichzeitig aber auch eine Chance, denn wir verstehen die Zusammenhänge nun immer besser. Wir sehen, dass wir nicht wie Parasiten über die Erde herfallen dürfen, wenn auch künftige Generationen noch fai...
Einleitung und Zielsetzung:
Der »Wissenschaftliche Beirat der Bundesregierung Globale Umweltveränderungen« (WBGU) ist ein von der Bundesregierung jeweils für eine Periode von vier Jahren eingesetztes unabhängiges Beratungsgremium, mit der Aufgabe, globale Umwelt- und Entwicklungsprobleme zu analysieren. Für die Themenwahl ist der WBGU selbst veran...
Warum dauert es so lange, bis Wissenschaftler sich einigen, ob wir wirklich im Erdzeitalter Anthropozän leben? Ein Gespräch.
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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 3. Juli 2019, S. N2
We analyse the ‘three flaws’ to potentially defining a formal Anthropocene geological time unit as advanced by Ruddiman (2018). (1) We recognize a long record of pre-industrial human impacts, but note that these increased in relative magnitude slowly and were strongly time-transgressive by comparison with the extraordinarily rapid, novel and near-g...
We analyse the ‘three flaws’ to potentially defining a formal Anthropocene geological time unit as advanced by Ruddiman (2018). (1) We recognize a long record of pre-industrial human impacts, but note that these increased in relative magnitude slowly and were strongly time-transgressive by comparison with the extraordinarily rapid, novel and near-g...
The Anthropocene, a term launched into public debate by Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen, has been used informally to describe the time period during which human actions have had a drastic effect on the Earth and its ecosystems. This book presents evidence for defining the Anthropocene as a geological epoch, written by the high-profile international...
(No abstract in chapter) Contents of Chapter: Intro - Plastics as a Distinctive Technofossil Group - Production and Degradation of Plastic Materials: An Overview - Plastic Redistribution in the Environment: An Overview - The Fate of Microplastics in Ocean Settings - Plastics as a High-Resolution Stratigraphic Tool -
Outlook: The Role of Plastics...
... This book is the outcome of the work of the Anthropocene Working Group since 2009 in developing and testing the general case for the Anthropocene as a formal geological time unit. This work was a necessary prelude to preparing any specific formalisation proposal to the SQS, ICS and IUGS (a task that is underway). It summarises the evidence gath...
... it seems clear from comparisons across long timescales that the boron isotope signature does generally tie in with past estimates of seawater pCO2 (Figure 5.3.1). With regard to using this signal in chronostratigraphic characterisation of the Anthropocene, at present the annual to decadal variability is obscuring the underlying signal attributa...
Earth history is too often misused for wrong excuses like „geology is stronger than us“, „climate has always changed“, or „coral reefs have died out several times but always recovered“, in order to relativise or even to reject the need of human behavioural change. Even within geological student course training the long-term narrative teaching is la...
Most species on planet Earth have specific ecological ranges defined by factors such as latitudinal changes in surface temperature and rainfall, or geographical isolation. These patterns have evolved over millions, sometimes tens of millions of years. This natural pattern is being overprinted by the actions of Homo sapiens, which has made the whole...
Despite shallow coral reefs are mainly restricted to tropical and subtropical marine environments, relict reef-builder corals can be also found in temperate seas like the Mediterranean Sea. The aim of this presentation is to show the preliminary results of an ongoing interdisciplinary project studying the Mediterranean endemic coral Cladocora caesp...
In March 2019, German-speaking scientists and scholars calling themselves Scientists for Future, published a statement in support of the youth protesters in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (Fridays for Future, Klimastreik/Climate Strike), verifying the scientific evidence that the youth protestors refer to. In this article, they provide the full...
Extended version from Scilogs - Der Anthropozäniker: R. Leinfelder, Zukunftsoptionen für Korallenriffe – vielfältiges Handeln und langer Atem sind nötig / Future options for coral reefs - multiple action and long breath are needed (11 Nov 2018)
Direct links:
German: https://scilogs.spektrum.de/der-anthropozaeniker/zukunftsoptionen-fuer-korallenrif...
published as: Leinfelder, R. (2018): Foreword.- In: Tom Hegen, (ed.) HABITAT - vom Mensch geprägte Lebensräume / Human altered landscapes, Bielefeld (Kerber-Verlag), ISBN 978-3-7356-0502- (Book is in german and english language) https://www.kerberverlag.com/en/habitat-vom-mensch-gepragte-lebensraume.html
A change of perspective allows for new insights. Climb to the top of a mountain. What do you see? There are the natural mountain features of rocks, alpine choughs and marmots, but also alpine pastures and meadows in bloom, the summit cross, the hang gliders. What is nature? What is culture? The categories mix.
Geologists are working on the definit...
For an extended english version see public full text or https://tinyurl.com/y8lymxrc
Jeder, der sie kennt, bestaunt und bewundert sie: Korallenriffe – unerwartet dichtbesiedelte „Städte“ unter Wasser mit faszinierenden Farben und einer unglaublichen Arten- und Formenvielfalt. Seit einiger Zeit sind sie allerdings dramatisch in die Schlagzeilen...
Most species on planet Earth have specific ecological ranges. In the near surface of the oceans, planktonic foraminifera define water masses that are warm in the tropics, and cold in polar regions. Tropical rainforests have trees and animals that are distinct from those in warm temperate or cold temperate zones. The fauna and flora of Australia are...
This is the full presentation given by Reinhold Leinfelder on occasion of the opening of German activities for the 3rd International Year of the Reef 2018 (IYOR 2018). The presentation was designed for educating diving instructors. Short texts are added to the slides. The text is automatically translated into english via Google translator. The orig...
Klimaerwärmung, ein gigantischer Plastikteppich im Meer, Atomtests – das Wirken des Menschen geht nicht spurlos an unserem Planeten vorbei. Der Ausdruck „Anthropozän“ (von anthropos, der Mensch) ist ein Vorschlag, das gegenwärtige Erdzeitalter nach dem Menschen, dem wichtigsten Einflussfaktor, zu benennen. Das Anthropozän-Konzept sieht einen verant...
The future of reefs depends on mitigation, management efforts and, possibly, new strategies of ‚assisted’ recovery and adaptation. Correlating, monitoring and predicting Anthropocene reef eco-episodes on a regional and global scale should be based on integration and correlation of environmental skeletal proxies, other geosignals, direct measurement...
Laut Umfragen haben Umweltschutz und Umweltverantwortung in Deutschland zwar einen relativ hohen Stellenwert, dennoch sind sie mit einem umfassenden Satz gesellschaftlicher und individueller, meist psychologischer Herausfor- derungen konfrontiert. Gleichzeitig geht unser bisheriger Nachhaltigkeitsbegriff eher von einem frei ausverhandelbaren und gg...
Laut Umfragen haben Umweltschutz und Umweltverantwortung in Deutschland zwar einen relativ hohen Stellenwert, dennoch sind sie mit einem umfassenden Satz gesellschaftlicher und individueller, meist psychologischer Herausforderungen konfrontiert. Gleichzeitig geht unser bisheriger Nachhaltigkeitsbegriff eher von einem frei ausverhandelbaren und ggf....
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This is the comic version of a science-policy-advise flagship report from the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), which is now also available in english language. You may order a free copy (but better hurry up via http://www.wbgu.de/en ). We prepared the (german) book as part of a communication research project, to find out whether the multilevel-multimodal format of a science comic might work for better negotiating complex, systemic, transdisciplinary topics such as climate change issues, e.g. in school education. The results in Germany have been very stimulating. However, does this book, based on protagonists from Germany, also work for other countries? Any comment on the english version of the book, be it public or personal to me, is highly welcome (book website with more informations, mostly in german, is http://www.die-grosse-transformation.de)
