Anthropogenic effects, as a biological process, encompass the direct and indirect impacts of human activities on biological systems, altering organismal physiology, behavior, population dynamics, community structure, and ecosystem function. These effects arise from mechanisms such as habitat modification, pollution, overexploitation, introduction of invasive species, and climate forcing via greenhouse gas emissions. At the biological level, anthropogenic effects drive phenotypic plasticity, rapid evolutionary change, altered life-history strategies, and disrupted species interactions (e.g., predation, competition, mutualism). They also modify biogeochemical cycles, primary productivity, and trophic networks, frequently resulting in biodiversity loss, shifts in species ranges, and changes in ecosystem resilience and stability.
Human activity continues to expand ever further into wild areas, throwing ecology out of balance. But what begins as an environmental issue often evolves into a human problem.
Ecology
Jan 21, 2026
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A team of scientists has overcome a major challenge in predicting how Antarctic life will fare under future climate scenarios, revealing five scenarios for the future of Antarctic life.
Plants & Animals
Jan 20, 2026
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299
Global change—a term that encompasses climate change and phenomena such as changes in land use or environmental pollution—is increasingly putting ecosystems around the world under pressure. Urban soils in particular are susceptible ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 15, 2026
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48
For the first time, a study by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego integrates climate-related damages to the ocean into the social cost of carbon—a measure of economic ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 15, 2026
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254
Across the western U.S., wildfires and the dangerous smoke that results have increased in frequency and intensity since the 1990s—that much is clear. Surprisingly less clear are the exact reasons why: While greenhouse gas-related ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 16, 2025
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29
Conflict between humans and baboons can tear communities apart. Shirley C. Strum has studied wild olive baboons in Kenya for more than 50 years. In that time she's come to understand the species intimately. In this article ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 11, 2025
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27
The Environmental Protection Agency has removed any mention of fossil fuels—the main driver of global warming—from its popular online page explaining the causes of climate change. Now it only mentions natural phenomena, even ...
Environment
Dec 10, 2025
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Urbanization is rapidly growing worldwide, often bringing negative effects on wildlife through loss of habitat and disturbances such as light pollution and noise. Yet some species manage to adapt to cities, either due to ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 1, 2025
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17
Human-driven changes to landscapes worldwide are 'thinning out' the ecological services supplied by wild birds, eroding the functions that support stable and resilient ecosystems.
Plants & Animals
Nov 26, 2025
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54
We live in a time often characterized as a polycrisis. One of those crises is human-caused climate change, an issue currently being discussed by delegates at the COP30 climate talks in Belém, Brazil.
Environment
Nov 19, 2025
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