The Anthropocene: Rivers and resilience

The 'Anthropocene' is proposed as the latest geological epoch, one where human activity dominates the forces of nature. Humans have been reshaping riverine landscapes for thousands of years, and it is assumed present-day river systems are reflective of the Anthropocene. Riverine landscapes and the ecosystems contained within them are dynamic and change naturally over time and space in response to many drivers operating at a range of scales. They are 'disturbance driven' systems. This raises theoretical and applied questions, like 'does the structure and function of rivers in the Anthropocene differ from natural rivers?', and 'do rivers in the Anthropocene differ from natural rivers in their ability to respond to multiple disturbances?' In this chapter we use principles of resilience thinking to examine the structure and function of a large river ecosystem that has been substantially affected by human activity for over 100 years. We suggest that resilience thinking provides a theoretical foundation for understanding how complex systems, exemplified by rivers, absorb disturbances, or change regimes, in response to local disturbances such as flood events and system-wide anthropogenic disturbances like land-use modifications, urbanisation and flow regulation.