Topic III - Environmental issues > III-3-Reconstructing the impact of human activities on the environment

Conveners

1. William Rapuc (EDYTEM, CNRS, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, France & Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, UK)
2. Emilie Saulnier-Talbot (Université Laval, départements de biologie-Faculté des sciences et de génie et de géographie-Faculté de foresterie, de géographie et de géomatique, Canada)
3. John Boyle (University of Liverpool, UK)

In the context of rapid anthropogenic global changes, understanding, characterising and quantifying the impact of human activities on the environment has become a major preoccupation of the geosciences community in recent years. To this end, the use of natural archives spanning centuries or millennia, such as those from lake sediments, is becoming increasingly popular. Such a retrospective approach makes it possible to observe baseline conditions, as well as the trajectories and history of climatic and human forcings, which are the main factors affecting the environment during the Holocene. Although several studies have attempted to distinguish between the effects of climate and human activities, very few have succeeded in doing so, as these effects often occur concomitantly over the last few thousand years (reviewed by Mills et al. 2017).  Among other effects, human activities can cause increased soil erosion, pollution, changes to habitats and the introduction of species (reviewed by Dubois et al. 2018). In order to develop appropriate responses to these changes to preserve sustainability of ecosystem services, it is essential to increase the number of relevant long-term studies throughout the world.

The aim of this session is to bring together researchers working on characterising and quantifying the effects of human activities on the environment through the use of sediment archives from lake and other aquatic systems (ponds, wetlands, coasts). We welcome presentations that contribute to advancing our understanding of this subject, covering all or part of the Holocene, whatever the location and type of impact tracked. We hope to be able to present an array of many different approaches and proxies, reflecting the mission of the PAGES Human Traces working group (https://pastglobalchanges.org/science/wg/human-traces/intro). Early career scientists are particularly encouraged to submit abstracts.

References:

Dubois, N., Saulnier-Talbot, É., Mills, K., Gell, P., Battarbee, R., Bennion, H., ... & Valero-Garcés, B. (2018). First human impacts and responses of aquatic systems: A review of palaeolimnological records from around the world. The Anthropocene Review, 5(1), 28-68.

Mills, K., Schillereff, D., Saulnier‐Talbot, É., Gell, P., Anderson, N. J., Arnaud, F., ... & Ryves, D. B. (2017). Deciphering long‐term records of natural variability and human impact as recorded in lake sediments: a palaeolimnological puzzle. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 4(2), e1195.