Shifting seas: understanding deep-time human impacts on marine ecosystems

This paper introduces the thematic issue “Shifting seas: understanding deep‑time human impacts on marine ecosystems” and synthesises evidence showing that humans have shaped marine ecosystems for millennia through harvesting, habitat modification, pollution, species introductions, and, more recently, climate change. Drawing on interdisciplinary research—including archaeology, historical records, stable isotopes, biomolecular analyses, and sedimentary ancient DNA—the authors show that past oceans were often far more diverse and abundant than today, while human impacts varied widely across cultures, technologies, and time periods. Early exploitation was often localised and sometimes sustainable, especially under Indigenous management, but technological advances, colonisation, and industrialisation drove increasingly globalised extraction and major biodiversity loss from the last few centuries onwards. The paper emphasises that understanding long‑term interactions between climate, culture, and ecosystems is essential for setting realistic ecological baselines, identifying mechanisms of degradation, and learning from both effective and destructive forms of past ocean stewardship. Overall, the authors argue that integrating deep‑time perspectives and diverse knowledge systems can raise ambition and improve strategies for marine conservation, restoration, and resilience in a rapidly changing world.

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