The Biosphere in the Anthropocene: CityUHK Scholar Co-Edits Landmark Issue
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, the world’s longest‑running scientific journal, has released a special issue on 22 January entitled “The Biosphere in the Anthropocene.” The volume was guest edited by Mark Williams (University of Leicester), Mary McGann (USGS), Moriaki Yasuhara (City University of Hong Kong), and Chhaya Chaudhary (University of Hamburg).
The issue brings together new research on how humans are reshaping life on Earth—often for the worse, but not without signs of hope. It traces long‑term changes from early farming and animal domestication to today’s rapid losses of habitat and species. It highlights the spread of non‑native species moved by people, large‑scale coastal damage, and growing pressure on the deep ocean as technology reaches farther offshore and into deeper waters.
Conceptual visualization of historical human-induced impacts on terrestrial, shallow-marine and deep-sea ecosystems and delayed deep-sea Anthropocene. Credit: Jingwen Zhang
A central theme is quantifying how these changes affect the biosphere, the web of all living things on the planet. Several papers warn that warming tropical oceans, declining wildlife populations, and relentless demand for land and resources could push ecosystems toward a mass extinction trajectory if current trends continue.
Prof. Moriaki Yasuhara, Professor at the School of Energy and Environment (SEE), City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), and an expert on deep‑sea biology and Anthropocene change, led a paper on the risks of deep‑sea mining in areas of high biodiversity. He also examines the potential impacts of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR), proposals to store carbon in the deep sea to counter climate change. Prof. Yasuhara cautions that large‑scale mining or geoengineering could open a “brave new Anthropocene” in one of Earth’s last relatively intact ecosystems. He serves as Co‑Lead of the Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative (DOSI) Climate Change Working Group.
Yet the volume also points to pathways for recovery. These include making agriculture more efficient to free space for nature, protecting and restoring key habitats, and learning from local and Indigenous knowledge to build more balanced relationships between people and the rest of the biosphere. There are encouraging examples: formerly endangered species such as Florida’s goliath grouper are rebounding under sustained protections.
Photo of ghost net and a deep-sea fish. Photo credit: Roberto Danovaro
Together, the papers deliver a clear message: the Anthropocene is real in its effects, and our choices now will determine whether Earth’s living systems degrade further—or recover.
The full issue is available online at: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/381/1942