Publications

Milkoreit, M., T. Lindahl, M.-L. Moore, M. Nyström, P. Olsson, C. Schill. 2025. Human Cognition and the Anthropocene, Stockholm Resilience Center (Stockholm University), Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Report prepared for the Anthropocene Paradigm Shift Symposium, December 1, 2025, Stockholm, Sweden

Understanding the multiple reciprocal relationships between human cognition and the Anthropocene is emerging as a critical research frontier across the sciences and humanities. This report maps the rapidly expanding but conceptually disconnected landscape of research on how Anthropocene conditions shape the brain and mind—and how human cognition and social processes, in turn, drive and sustain global change. We sketch existing...

Peter Søgaard Jørgensen, Raf Jansen, Daniel Avila Ortega, Lan Wang-Erlandsson, Jonathan F. Donges, Henrik Österblom, Per Olsson, Magnus Nyström, Steve Lade, Thomas Hahn, Carl Folke, Garry Peterson, Anne-Sophie Crepin. 2024. Evolution of the polycrisis: Anthropocene traps that challenge global sustainability. EGU. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-21005

The Anthropocene is characterized by accelerating change and global challenges of increasing complexity and most recently by what some have called a polycrisis. Based on an adaptation of the evolutionary traps concept to a global human context, we explore whether the human trajectory of increasing complexity and influence on the Earth system could become a form of Anthropocene trap for humanity. We identify 14 Anthropocene tra...

Emmy Wassénius, Miina Porkka, Magnus Nyström, Peter Søgaard Jørgensen. 2023. A global analysis of potential self-sufficiency and diversity displays diverse supply risks. Global Food Security. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2023.100673

International trade plays a fundamental role in today's globalized food system, however, trade-related disruptions to national food supply have become increasingly prevalent. Although national food self-sufficiency and the resilience of domestic food production are both increasingly discussed, they are rarely investigated in tandem. This hinders our understanding of the diversity of risks to national food supply. In this artic...

Eylem Elma, Martin Gullström, Saleh A.S. Yahya, Jean-Baptiste Jouffray, Holly K. East, Magnus Nyström. 2023. Post-bleaching alterations in coral reef communities. Marine Pollution Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114479

We explored the extent of post-bleaching impacts, caused by the 2014–2016 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event, on benthic community structure (BCS) and herbivores (fish and sea urchins) on seven fringing reefs, with differing protection levels, in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Results showed post-bleaching alterations in BCS, with up to 68 % coral mortality and up to 48 % increase in turf algae cover in all reef sites. Herbivorous...

Eylem Elma, Martin Gullström, Saleh A.S. Yahya, Jean-Baptiste Jouffray, Holly K. East, Magnus Nyström. 2023. Post-bleaching alterations in coral reef communities. Marine Pollution Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114479

We explored the extent of post-bleaching impacts, caused by the 2014–2016 El NiñoSouthern Oscillation (ENSO) event, on benthic community structure (BCS) and herbivores (fish and sea urchins) on seven fringing reefs, with differing protection levels, in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Results showed post-bleaching alterations in BCS, with up to 68 % coral mortality and up to 48 % increase in turf algae cover in all reef sites. Herbivorous ...

Peter Søgaard Jørgensen, Daniel Itzamna Avila-Ortega, Robert Blasiak, Sarah Cornell, Line J. Gordon, Magnus Nyström, Per Olsson. 2022. The lure of novel biological and chemical entities in food-system transformations. One Earth. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2022.09.011

Bengtsson, J., Angelstam, P., Elmqvist, T., Emanuelsson, U., Folke, C., Ihse, M., Moberg, F., Nyström, M.. 2021. Reserves, resilience and dynamic landscapes 20 years later. Ambio. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01477-8

Garmestani, A., Twidwell, D., Angeler, D.G., Sundstrom, S. et.al. 2020. Panarchy: opportunities and challenges for ecosystem management. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Volume 18, Issue 10, December 2020, Pages 576-583, https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2264

Addressing unexpected events and uncertainty represents one of the grand challenges of the Anthropocene, yet ecosystem management is constrained by existing policy and laws that were not formulated to deal with today's accelerating rates of environmental change. In many cases, managing for simple regulatory standards has resulted in adverse outcomes, necessitating innovative approaches for dealing with complex social–ecologica...

Folke, C., Österblom, H., Jouffray, J-B., Lambin, E.F., et.al. 2020. An invitation for more research on transnational corporations and the biosphere. Nat Ecol Evol 4, 494, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1145-2

We welcome the interest in our work on transnational corporations (TNCs) and biosphere stewardship. TNCs have rarely been linked to ecosystem dynamics, and even less so considered suitable partners for knowledge co-production in sustainability research. How TNCs shape the intertwined nature of people and planet therefore represents a timely and critical topic and the Correspondence articles by Schneider et al. and Etzion offer...

Jouffray, J-N., Blasiak, R., Norström, A., Österblom, H., Nyström, H. 2020. The Blue Acceleration: The Trajectory of Human Expansion into the Ocean. One Earth, Perspective, Vol. 2, Issue 1, p. 43-54. DOI: /10.1016/j.oneear.2019.12.016

Does humanity's future lie in the ocean? As demand for resources continues to grow and land-based sources decline, expectations for the ocean as an engine of human development are increasing. Claiming marine resources and space is not new to humanity, but the extent, intensity, and diversity of today's aspirations are unprecedented. We describe this as the blue acceleration—a race among diverse and often competing interests f...