, 2011). In response to calls for deeper historical perspectives on the antiquity of human effects on marine fisheries and ecosystems (Pauly, 1995), researchers have summarized archeological and historical evidence for such impacts (e.g., Ellis, 2003, Erlandson and Rick, 2010, Jackson et al., 2001, Lotze et al., 2011, Lotze et al.,

2013 and Rick and Erlandson, 2008). Marine shellfish, mammals, and birds were utilized to some extent by earlier hominins, but no evidence has yet been MI-773 found that any hominin other than AMH had measurable or widespread effects on fisheries or coastal ecosystems. With the spread of Homo sapiens around the world, however, such evidence takes on global proportions. A growing number of studies show signs of resource

depletion in archeological records from coastal areas around the globe. Along coastlines of the Mediterranean, South Africa, the Pacific Islands, and the Pacific Coast of North America, for instance, coastal peoples have influenced the size and structure of nearshore shellfish populations for millennia (Erlandson and Rick, http://www.selleckchem.com/products/PD-0325901.html 2010, Jerardino et al., 1992, Jerardino et al., 2008, Klein and Steele, 2013, Milner, 2013, Morrison and Hunt, 2007, Rick and Erlandson, 2009, Steele and Klein, 2008 and Stiner, 2001). In South Africa, evidence for such anthropogenic changes in nearshore marine ecosystems may begin as much as ∼75,000 years ago (Langejans et al., 2012). In New Zealand, after the arrival of the Maori people about 800 years ago, marine mammal hunting resulted

in a major range contraction of the fur seal, Arctocephalus forsteri ( Anderson, 2008). Similar reductions in geographic range are evident for other marine animals, including Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), and the great auk (Pinguinis impennis) ( Ellis, 2003). In historic times, evidence for human impacts on marine fisheries becomes even more pervasive. In the Mediterranean, not the Greeks and Romans had extensive effects on coastal fisheries and ecosystems, as did Medieval European populations (e.g., Barrett et al., 2004, Hoffmann, 1996, Hoffmann, 2005, Hughes, 1994 and Lotze et al., 2013). Off the coast of southern California, eight Channel Islands contain unique landscapes, flora, and fauna that today are the focus of relatively intensive conservation and restoration efforts. The Northern Channel Islands of Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel—united as one island (‘Santarosae’) during the lower sea levels of the last glacial—were colonized by humans at least 13,000 years ago (Erlandson et al., 2011a and Erlandson et al., 2011b).

Third fire generation anomalies also regard a potential shift of the lightning-caused fire regime season, generally concentrated in summer, to the spring season. During spring 2012, an extraordinary lightning fire ran over an area of 300 ha in the south-eastern Alps (“Tramonti

fire”, Friuli, 29th March–10th April). Similarly, recent large summer fires ignited by lightning have attracted public attention because of their extent, as for BEZ235 example the “Monte Jovet Fire” in 2013 (Friuli), which lasted almost one month and spread over an area of 1000 ha, with crown fire phases and flames up to 50 m in height ( Table 1). The listed hot-spots and anomalies may indicate the shift towards a new generation of large natural fires as yet undocumented ( Conedera et al., 2006 and Pezzatti et al., 2009). The short historical overview on fire epochs and generations of large fires in the Alps makes it very clear how disturbance by fire has been and still is a prominent agent in shaping Alpine landscapes and habitats, producing a selective

pressure on species life-history traits and related distribution (Ravazzi et al., 2005), particularly since the last Ice Age (Tinner check details et al., 2000, Vannière et al., 2011 and Colombaroli et al., 2013). In the subalpine belt, late glacial forest vegetation consisted of mixed stands of Pinus cembra, Betula spp., Pinus sylvestris, Pinus mugo and Larix decidua ( Vescovi et al., 2007). Periods when natural fire events were low in frequency (early Holocene) favoured Rebamipide P. cembra dominance ( Gobet et al., 2003), while increases in fire activity (fire intervals of 200–300 yrs) favoured P. sylvestris, Picea abies, P. mugo, L. decidua, and Betula spp. ( Ali et al., 2005 and Stähli et al., 2006). However, during the second fire epoch the increased anthropogenic use of fire for land management resulted in a reduction of the tree component and an opening of the landscape. Some signs at landscape scale of the second fire epoch are still visible in several subalpine rangelands, where the timberline is artificially lowered and the combination

of pastoral fires and recurrent grazing maintain a savannah-like open forest structure (Conedera et al., 2007 and Conedera and Krebs, 2010). Relevant examples of cultural landscapes still maintained by periodic burning and grazing are the open wide-standing larch forests (Fig. 6, left) (Gobet et al., 2003, Ali et al., 2005, Schulze et al., 2007, Genries et al., 2009 and Garbarino et al., 2013), as well as the lowland Calluna vulgaris dominated heathlands ( Fig. 6, right) with sparse birches and oaks ( Borghesio, 2009, Ascoli and Bovio, 2010 and Vacchiano et al., 2014b). The third fire epoch has also been contributing to shape Alpine landscapes. Fire use bans and fire suppression have successfully reduced the overall area burnt in several Alpine regions, e.g., Pezzatti et al.

, 1991). In the early 1970’s, neutralizing antibodies against Sicilian virus (2.5%) and Naples virus (7.5%) were reported in human sera (Tesh et al., 1976). During an outbreak in US Army troops in 2007, 13 of 14 convalescent sera contained IgM specific for Sicilian virus using ELISA (Ellis et al., 2008). IgG specific for Sicilian virus was also found in marines after self-reporting of febrile illness using ELISA (Riddle et al., 2008). Extensive studies were conducted in Iran. Hitherto, five different sandfly fever viruses were reported to be present in Iran with virus isolation representing of Sicilian virus, Salehabad, Karimabad, and Tehran but only indirect evidence for Naples virus.

Salehebad virus was isolated from P. papatasi in 1959, Tehran CDK inhibitor virus was isolated in 1959 from unidentified sandflies, and Karimabad virus was first isolated from an unidentified pool of sandflies selleck as well as from P. papatasi

( Tesh et al., 1977 and Tesh et al., 1976). Although the pathogenicity of Karimabad virus is unknown, specific antibodies were found in humans and other vertebrates ( Darwish et al., 1983 and Gaidamovich et al., 1984; 1978; Saidi et al., 1977 and Tesh et al., 1976). The presence of neutralizing antibodies in human sera collected from seven provinces of Iran over a wide geographical range demonstrates that Sicilian virus (9.4–21.8%), Naples virus (13.2–30.4%), and Karimabad virus (0.2–62.1%) were highly prevalent throughout the country before the 1970’s ( Tesh et al., 1976). In contrast, Salehebad neutralizing antibodies were not detected in humans ( Tesh et al., 1976). Karimabad virus and Sicilian virus can also infect gerbils as shown by respective rates of 31.6% and

34.2%, using PRNT (80) ( Saidi et al., 1977). From P. papatasi flies, 49 strains of Sicilian virus and 11 strains of Karimabad virus were isolated ( Tesh et al., 1977). Although seroprevalence rates of antibodies against Naples virus were significant, the virus was not isolated in Iran. In 1986–1987, three strains of Naples virus and two strains of Sicilian virus were isolated from febrile Soviet troops (Gaidamovich et al., 1990). However, a very low prevalence of HI antibodies was reported Bryan et al. (1996). Microbiological investigations of 26 cases of unexplained febrile illness that occurred in British troops stationed in Pregnenolone Helmand district during summer 2008 revealed that 12 cases were associated with sandfly fever although the status “ probable” or “confirmed” and the method used for diagnosis were not detailed (Bailey et al., 2011). The studies of Tesh et al. (1976) did not lead to the discovery of neutralizing antibodies in Burma, Vietnam, Malaysia or China. In Western provinces of Pakistan, a strain of Sicilian virus was isolated from P. papatasi ( George, 1970). In Karachi, 2.7% and 9.3% of sera tested positive for neutralizing antibodies against Sicilian and Naples virus, respectively ( Tesh et al., 1976).

doxapram LD50 of 85 mg/kg in mice). Acutely, almitrine is generally well tolerated and safe in humans. Not surprisingly, increased awareness of breathing and breathlessness are ZD1839 manufacturer the most common side-effects following almitrine administration ( Marsac, 1986 and Naeije

et al., 1981). Other side effects included headache, fatigue, insomnia, malaise, flushing, sweating, and postural dizziness ( Naeije et al., 1981 and Sergysels et al., 1980). Gastro-intestinal side effects included nausea, abdominal discomfort, and diarrhea ( MacLeod et al., 1983). There are minimal changes in cardiovascular parameters except for a mild increase in pulmonary artery pressure ( Gluskowski et al., 1984, Gluskowski et al., 1985 and MacNee et al., 1986). Almitrine is less tolerated when administered chronically. Multi-year trials observed that patients receiving almitrine exhibited significant weight loss

(>15%) that appeared to be anorectic ATM Kinase Inhibitor in nature (Ansquer, 1985, Ansquer et al., 1985 and Gherardi et al., 1989). The most significant and consistent side effect of chronic (more than 3 months) almitrine administration is peripheral neuropathy (Allen, 1988, Allen and Prowse, 1989, Bouche et al., 1989, Gherardi et al., 1989 and Suggett et al., 1985). Further examination revealed that these patients showed axonal degradation and a decrease in the density of large myelinated fibers. Mechanistic studies in animals identified the detriazinyl metabolite,

4,4′-fluorobenzhydrylpiperazine, the major almitrine metabolite formed in humans, as the probable cause of the evoked neuropathy (Yamanaka et al., 1997). Thus, the use of almitrine is no longer Thalidomide recommended and is withdrawn or in regulatory review in many countries. There have been only a few new therapeutic agents developed that focus on respiratory control and even fewer have been approved for clinical use during the previous decades. One issue has been poor translation of pre-clinical efficacy into humans, as has occurred with the 5-HT1A and 5-HT4 receptors agonists, buspirone and mosapride (Lotsch et al., 2005 and Oertel et al., 2007). This may be more about the targets selected and not related to the use of rodents as models for drug-induced respiratory depression, given the initial success and translatability of the AMPAkines and GAL-021 (see below). The paucity of the new molecule entities in respiratory modulation has resulted in the route to and benchmarks for registering new therapeutic products to be absent, outdated, or limited to single pharmacological mechanism action. Thus, the methods for determining an early clinical Proof-of-Concept trial, including the selection of meaningful endpoints, will need to be developed for each potential indication that has strong negative predictive value balanced by good positive predictive value for the therapeutic utility of potential agents.

039 Bq/g) measured at the upstream Munroe Falls dam pool (Peck et al., 2007). The bedrock beneath the Gorge Dam pool sediment is sandstone and shale of the Cuyahoga Group, whereas the Munroe Falls site is underlain by the quartz-rich Sharon Formation. Shale often contains more 238U (the grand grandparent to 210Pb) than sandstone, and the difference in bedrock type may account for the slight difference in background values between these nearby sites. The core top (0 cmblf) was set to the time of core UMI-77 collection (year 2011.4). 9 cm of gravel at the base of core C4 is interpreted as a fluvial deposit predating the

construction of the dam. Overlying the gravel at 545 cmblf is the base of the impoundment mud deposit. The sample at 488.1 cmblf has an unrealistic 210Pb age (1890) that predates dam construction (Fig. 7). Therefore the age model is estimated by linear interpolation between the 210Pb JQ1 cost sample at 443.6 cmblf (1928) and the onset of inferred impoundment sedimentation at 545 cmblf (1912)(Fig. 7). Deep in the core the 210Pb values approach background; thus, the ages have larger uncertainty. As described in Section 3.3, bathymetric maps and sediment cores were used to obtain a sediment volume estimate. Core C4 was collected close to cross section 3 (Fig. 2) and contains

4.98 m of sediment between the 2010 and 1918 210Pb dated horizons. This amount of sediment agrees closely with the 4.86 m difference between the 1918 and 2010 bathymetric surfaces at cross section 3. The total sediment volume is estimated at 765,000 m3 and, based upon an average sediment dry bulk density (0.58 g cm−3), has an approximate mass of 444,000 tonnes. To examine changes in sediment accumulation rate we followed the method of Evans and Heller (2003). The mass accumulation Dipeptidyl peptidase rate (kg m−2 yr−1) for core

C4 was calculated by multiplying the sedimentation rate, determined from 210Pb dating, by the dry bulk density (measured at a 2 cm interval corresponding to an average time step of 0.4 yr). The core C4 mass accumulation rate was then multiplied by the dam pool surface area (160,000 m2) to estimate the total sediment mass deposited at each dated horizon (Fig. 8). Summing all 99 years of mass accumulation yielded a total of 508,000 tonnes of impoundment sediment. This value is only 14% greater than the mass obtained by simply multiplying the total volume by an average sediment density as reported above. Our method of multiplying the core C4 mass accumulation rate by the dam pool area assumes that the sediment thickness and sediment type at core site C4 is uniform throughout the impoundment. We believe that these assumptions are not severe limitations. Downstream of Front Street Bridge the C4 thickness is representative of much of the impoundment. However, between profiles 9 and 14 the sediment can be up to 8–10 m thick (Fig. 5).

There are rich plant resources on the islands, however, fresh water sources are ample, selleck chemical and the surrounding sea is marked by high marine productivity and a wealth of seaweeds, shellfish, fish, seabirds, seals,

sea lions, and cetaceans. The westernmost of the northern Channel Islands is San Miguel, located 44 km from the mainland. Today, San Miguel is a maximum of 14 km long and 8 km wide, with a total land area of roughly 37 km2. Cloaked mostly in calcareous sand dunes and scrub vegetation, the island landscape consists of a series of uplifted marine terraces separated by intervening slopes that mark the location of ancient sea cliffs. Rising seas have submerged the shorelines where the island’s earliest maritime peoples probably spent most of their time, but an intensive search of springs,

caves, toolstone sources, and other landforms that drew early islanders into the interior has identified scores of shell middens and scatters of stone tools left behind by Paleocoastal peoples between about 12,200 and 8000 years ago (Braje et al., 2013, Erlandson and Rick, 2008, Erlandson et al., 2011a, Erlandson et al., 2011b, Rick et al., 2013a and Rick et al., 2013b). Some of these Paleocoastal sites are quite large, including a relatively Trichostatin A datasheet shallow site complex at Cardwell Bluffs dated between ∼12,200 and 11,300 years old that covers an area of ∼180,000 m2 (600 m × 300 m). After sea level rise slowed about 7500 years ago, hundreds of denser and deeper shell middens

were created by the Island Chumash, who lived on San Miguel until they Cediranib (AZD2171) were removed to mainland missions in the early 1800s. By the mid-1800s, thousands of sheep and other domestic livestock were introduced to the island, causing rapid and widespread vegetation loss, dune destabilization, and soil erosion (Erlandson et al., 2005a). Despite this heavy erosion, early archeological surveys on San Miguel documented vast shell midden deposits that formed a virtually continuous blanket of anthropogenic soils along the island’s north coast (Rogers, 1929; see Fig. 4). The south coast appeared to have been much more sparsely occupied until large sheets of windblown sand deposited in historic times were dissected by recent erosion that has exposed scores of shell middens spanning at least the past 9500 years (Braje, 2010 and Braje et al., 2005). Study of San Miguel shell middens suggests that the island was continuously occupied for at least 12,000 years. The island landscape has been fundamentally changed by human occupation for millennia, potentially beginning with the extinction of the island mammoths. Terminal Pleistocene middens on San Miguel and Santa Rosa islands show that a diverse array of seabirds, waterfowl, shellfish, fish, and sea mammals were being harvested from island habitats (Erlandson et al., 2011a and Erlandson et al., 2011b).

The lowest sediment fluxes for the entire dataset was measured in the most isolated lakes like Belciug, an oxbow lake, and Hontzu Lake, even if both are located relatively close to major distributaries (i.e., St. George and Chilia respectively). Our analysis Dabrafenib of historical bathymetry between 1856 and 1871/1897 clearly shows that in natural conditions two depocenters were present along the Danube delta coast and they were located close the mouths of the largest Danube distributaries: the Chilia and the St. George. The Chilia distributary,

which at the time transported ca. 70% of the total Danube sediment load, was able to construct a river dominated lobe (Fig. 4a) on the shallow and relatively wave-protected region of the shelf that fronted its mouths (Giosan et al., 2005). Sediment accumulation led to a uniformly ∼20 m thick delta front advance in a quasi-radial pattern, all around the lobe’s coast. Sedimentation rates reached in places values higher than 50 cm/yr especially at Chilia’s northern and central

secondary mouths. The second depocenter belonged to the other active delta lobe, St. George II, which exhibited a wide shallow platform fronting its mouth with an incipient emergent barrier island that was already visible in 1897 (Fig. 4a). Such a platform was conspicuously missing in front of the Chilia lobe. The main St. George depocenter on the delta front was deeper than at Chilia (to ∼−30 m isobath) and was almost entirely offset downdrift of the river mouth Acyl CoA dehydrogenase but deposition http://www.selleckchem.com/products/GDC-0449.html similarly took place in a radial pattern around the delta platform.

The accumulation rates were even higher than for the Chilia depocenter (up to 70–80 cm/yr) even if the feeding distributary, the St. George, was transporting at the time only ∼20% of the total sediment load of the Danube. This suggests that the St. George depocenter was an effective temporary sediment trap rather than a point of continuous sediment redistribution toward the rest of the lobe’s coast. The nearshore zone between the Chilia lobe and St. George mouth, corresponding largely to the partially abandoned Sulina lobe, was erosional all along (Fig. 4a) to the closure depth (i.e., ∼5 m in wave protected regions and ∼10 m on unprotected stretches of the shoreline – Giosan et al., 1999) and even deeper toward the south. The third distributary of the Danube, the Sulina branch, discharging less than 10% of the Danube’s sediment load, could not maintain its own depocenter. However, together with the Chilia plume, Sulina probably contributed sediment to the stable distal offshore region (>5 m depth) in front of its mouth (Fig. 4a). Further downdrift, the nearshore zone to Perisor, outside the frontal St. George depocenter, was stable to accreting, protected from the most energetic waves coming from the northeast and east by the St. George lobe itself (Fig.

The Chilia III lobe begun developing at the open coast sometimes around 1700 AD (Mikhailova and Levashova, 2001). Although still primitive, the earliest realistically detailed map of the Danube delta region dating from 1771 (Fig. 2a; Panin and Overmars, 2012) provides important information about the earliest growth phase of the lobe. Its wave-dominated

deflected morphology (sensu Bhattacharya and Giosan, 2003) is evident. Two thalwegs at the mouth separated by a submerged middle-ground bar are oriented southward in the direction of the dominant longshore drift. Updrift of the mouth, the offshore-recurving shape of the contemporary Jebrieni beach NVP-BGJ398 price plain ridges clearly indicates that the submarine deltaic deposition was already significant. Only a few islets were emergent on the

updrift side of the submarine channel, but a shallow submerged depositional platform appears to have developed on its downdrift side ( Fig. 2a). Subsequently, as recorded in numerous maps and charts since 1830 ( Fig. 4a), the Chilia III lobe evolved as a typical river-dominated delta in a frictional regime, which has led to repeated bifurcations p38 MAP Kinase pathway via formation of middle-ground bars ( Giosan et al., 2005). The influence of the longshore drift, expressed as a southward deflection of main distributary of Old Stambul, remained noticeable until the end of the 19th century as documented by a survey in 1871 (Fig. 4a). The isometric shape of the lobe acquired after that time resulted from the infilling of the shallow bay left between the deflected part delta plain and the mainland (Fig. 4a). Throughout the history of Chilia III growth, deltaic progradation was favored at northern Oceacov mouth, which advanced into the dominant direction of the waves, and the southern Old Stambul distributary mouth, which grew in the direction longshore drift. Slower progradation

is evident along the central coast (Fig. 4a) fed by eastward directed distributaries that had to contend with the strong longshore drift removing sediments Histone demethylase southward (Giosan et al., 2005). The decrease in new fluvial sediment delivered per unit shoreline as the lobe grew larger and advanced into deeper water resulted in progressively slower growth of the entire lobe in the 20th century (Fig. 4a). By 1940, clear signs of erosion were apparent, and a general erosional trend continues until today leading to a wave-dominated morphology characterized by barrier islands and spit development (Fig. 4b and c). Our reconstruction of the Chilia lobe evolution supports the idea that the rapid Danube delta growth in the late Holocene (Giosan et al., 2012) led to its radical reorganization via flow redistribution across the delta. Initially the southernmost St. George branch was reactivated around 2000 years BP and constructed the bulk of its wave-dominated open coast lobe (Fig. 1) in the last 1000–1500 years (Giosan et al., 2006 and Giosan et al.

It was ethnographers, geographers, and ethnobotanists who recognized that human societies made significant, often purposeful impacts on their habitats in Amazonia (Anderson and Posey, 1989, Balee, 1989, Posey and Balee, 1989, Balick, 1984 and Smith, 1980). Their work was the first to make the point that the Amazon forest was in a sense a dynamic anthropic formation, not a virgin, natural one. They understood that there might have been an Amazon Anthropocene in prehistory. How has evidence of

the Amazon Anthropocene emerged through scientific research, and what are the methodological problems? Key sources on the Anthropocene in Amazonia were ethnohistoric and ethnographic accounts, which gave evidence of purposeful indigenous land management and habitat alteration,

buy VX-770 as well as glimpses FDA-approved Drug Library research buy of the adverse impacts of colonization (Porro, 1994 and Oliveira, 1994), whose records of the transformation—large document archives including early photographs and narratives—have hardly been plumbed. Ethnographers were the first to show that tropical forest villages, far from ephemeral and small, were sizeable settlements that had existed for hundreds of years (e.g., Carneiro, 1960). Through ethnographers, ethnobotanists, human ecologists, and cultural geographers, indigenous people and peasants have been an important source of specific data on the cultural character of vegetation and the scope of human environmental interventions (Anderson and Posey, 1989, Balee, 1989, Balee, 1994, Balee, 2013, Goulding and Smith, 2007 and Henderson, 1995:17–20; Peters et al., 1989, Posey and Balee, 1989, Politis, 2007 and Smith et al., 2007). Most scientists rely on native people as guides to the habitats and sites, but this is not always acknowledged, and their information often not recorded or analyzed explicitly

as evidence. The ethnographic interviews and observations suggested that the groupings of dominant species in forests through much of Amazonia (Campbell et al., 1986, Macia and Methane monooxygenase Svenning, 2005, Pitman et al., 2001 and Steege et al., 2013) are likely to be a human artifact (see Section ‘Anthropic forests’). Discoveries of large and complex prehistoric settlements and earthworks by archeologists helped refute the assumption that Amazonians had always lived in small, shifting villages by slash-and-burn horticulture. One important method has been surveys to map ancient human occupation sites and structures (Walker, 2012): transect surveys of regularly spaced test pits (e.g., Heckenberger et al., 1999); surface surveys along the rivers that attracted settlement (e.g., Roosevelt, 1980). But many ancient sites were destroyed by river action (Lathrap, 1970:84–87) or buried, so surface survey and shovel testing could not detect them.

, 2010). However, many geologists have argued from the perspective of their own subdiscipline that uniformitarian approaches are relevant and that ‘the present is the key to the past’ (e.g., Windley, 1993, Retallack, 1998 and Racki and Cordey, 2000). A more nuanced view is that ‘the basic physical laws appear to apply to all of geologic time as well as the present’ (Garner, 1974, pp. 41–42). As such, it is useful to distinguish mTOR cancer between ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ interpretations of uniformitarianism (Balashov, 1994). ‘Strong’ uniformitarianism refers to the application of the classical Principle of Uniformitarianism, as outlined above

(see Table 1). ‘Weak’ uniformitarianism (lowercase letter u) refers to the methodological and interpretive approach undertaken in many studies Trichostatin A supplier in physical geography, geomorphology, sedimentology and stratigraphy, whereby understanding of processes and environments in the past (or present) are informed by those of the present (or past). Such disconnected, circular reasoning is common in all types of palaeo studies (Edwards et al., 2007), and is the context in which we consider uniformitarianism

in this paper. The changing dynamics of Earth systems in the Anthropocene, and the explicit involvement of human activity in Earth system processes and feedbacks in ways that have not been experienced throughout Earth’s previous history, mean that the applicability of the viewpoint that ‘the present is the key to the past’ should now be reviewed. The Anthropocene is now an era of post-normal science (Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1993 and Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1994), in which scientific uncertainty has increased and traditional modes of scientific reasoning have become increasing limited in their capacity to interpret the past based on observations from the present, and vice versa. In this paper we argue that geographic and geologic viewpoints of the Anthropocene PAK6 cannot be seen through the lens of past behaviour(s) of Earth systems. Instead, the Anthropocene

probably has no analogue in Earth’s geological past and thus neither the ‘natural laws’ expounded by Principle of Uniformitarianism nor reference to high-CO2 periods of the past can be used as guides to Earth system behaviour in the Anthropocene. Earth system behaviour can be measured as the functional relationship between forcing and response, including the magnitude of response relative to forcing, the time lag(s) involved, and any other associated system feedbacks. This relationship is described by the concept of geomorphological sensitivity, which is the equilibrium Earth system response to climate forcing (Knight and Harrison, 2013a). Geomorphological sensitivity is of relevance to evaluating the Principle of Uniformitarianism because it is a representation of the different ways in which the land surface responds to climate forcing.