The Biological Anthropocene: rethinking novelty organisms, interactions, and evolution

TL;DR

This paper discusses how human activities have created a new epoch, the Biological Anthropocene, characterized by novel organisms and interactions that significantly influence Earth's evolutionary trajectories.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of the Biological Anthropocene, highlighting how human-driven changes are reshaping biodiversity, interactions, and evolution in unprecedented ways.

Findings

Human activities have led to extinction of many species.

Introduction of alien, hybrid, and genetically modified organisms.

New evolutionary pathways driven by anthropogenic interactions.

Abstract

Anthropogenic changes of the biota and human hyper-dominance are modulating the evolution of life on our planet. Humankind has spread worldwide supported by cultural and technological knowledge, and has already modified uncountable biological interactions. While numerous species have been extinguished by human actions, others are directly favored, such as alien species, hybrids, and genetically modified organisms. These biodiversity shifts have generated new interactions among all living organisms in anthropized or anthropogenic ecosystems, with the consequent establishment of novel evolutionary pathways. Thus, humans have created a strong evolutionary bias on Earth, leading to unexpected and irreversible outcomes. Anthropogenic changes and novelty organisms are shifting the evolutionary paths of all organisms towards the Biological Anthropocene, a new concept of our imprint on biodiversity and evolution.