Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis

P Søgaard Jørgensen… - … Transactions of the …, 2024‏ - royalsocietypublishing.org
How did human societies evolve to become a major force of global change? What dynamics
can lead societies on a trajectory of global sustainability? The astonishing growth in human …

Multicentennial cycles in continental demography synchronous with solar activity and climate stability

KW Wirtz, N Antunes, A Diachenko, J Laabs… - Nature …, 2024‏ - nature.com
Human population dynamics and their drivers are not well understood, especially over the
long term and on large scales. Here, we estimate demographic growth trajectories from 9 to …

The long-term expansion and recession of human populations

J Freeman, E Robinson, D Bird, RJ Hard… - Proceedings of the …, 2024‏ - pnas.org
Over the last 12,000 y, human populations have expanded and transformed critical earth
systems. Yet, a key unresolved question in the environmental and social sciences remains …

Our fragile future under the cumulative cultural evolution of two technologies

C Efferson, PJ Richerson… - … Transactions of the …, 2024‏ - royalsocietypublishing.org
We derive and analyse a model with unusual features characterizing human activities over
the long-run. First, human population dynamics draw heavily on consumer–resource …

Towards understanding human–environment feedback loops: the Atacama Desert case

EM Gayo, M Lima, A Gurruchaga… - … of the Royal …, 2024‏ - royalsocietypublishing.org
The overall trajectory for the human–environment interaction has been punctuated by
demographic boom-and-bust cycles, phases of growth/overshooting as well as of …

Spatiotemporal distribution of the North American Indigenous population prior to European contact

RL Kelly, ME Mackie, SR Pelton… - Proceedings of the …, 2025‏ - pnas.org
We examine spatiotemporal trends in the pre-European-contact Indigenous population of
North America using radiocarbon (14C) dates of the past 2000 y. At a continental scale, the …

The link between human population dynamics and energy consumption during the Anthropocene

M Lima - The Anthropocene Review, 2024‏ - journals.sagepub.com
Our present world is the consequence of the size of the human population and its
domination of the biosphere through the combustion of fossil fuels. Since~ 1950, there has …

A model of long-term population growth with an application to Central West Argentina

J Freeman, AF Gil, EA Peralta, F Franchetti, JM López… - Plos one, 2024‏ - journals.plos.org
We propose an Ideal Specialization Model to help explain the diversity of population growth
trajectories exhibited across archaeological regions over thousands of years. The model …

Phase synchronization between culture and climate forcing

A Timmermann, A Wasay, P Raia - Proceedings B, 2024‏ - royalsocietypublishing.org
Over the history of humankind, cultural innovations have helped improve survival and
adaptation to environmental stress. This has led to an overall increase in human population …

Landscape of Fear: Indirect effects of conflict can account for large-scale population declines in non-state societies

D Kondor, JS Bennett… - Journal of the Royal …, 2024‏ - royalsocietypublishing.org
The impact of inter-group conflict on population dynamics has long been debated, especially
for prehistoric and non-state societies. In this work, we consider that beyond direct battle …