The new nature: Limitations and prospects of the paleoenvironmental tradition in biogeography in the 21(st) century

摘要

Paleoenvironmental research is an important component of biogeography. The profound environmental changes wrought by human activity over the past 300 years challenge the previous focus on past natural systems and the use of past environmental conditions to anticipate future anthropogenic environmental changes. In many cases, due to profound environmental changes brought on by humans, the past may not be the key to the present nor the future. Jettisoning strict nature-human distinctions and uniformitarianistic expectations of past environmental analogues for current and future conditions does, however, open the door to a multitude of important research questions for biogeographers working in the paleoenvironmental tradition. Embracing research programs that seek to use paleoenvironmental records to inform questions of human-environment interactions not only provides individuals with new research opportunities, but also can serve to strengthen bonds within the discipline.