Navigating Earth’s biogeochemical dynamics: Integrating elemental cycles, anthropogenic pressures and planetary boundaries

Anthropogenic activities increasingly alter Earth’s biogeochemical cycles, threatening the integrity and resilience of critical planetary systems. This perspective paper highlights the pivotal role of biogeochemical cycles in global sustainability challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss...

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Main Author: Vera I. Slaveykova
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-06-01
Series:Frontiers in Environmental Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2025.1643879/full
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author Vera I. Slaveykova
author_facet Vera I. Slaveykova
author_sort Vera I. Slaveykova
collection DOAJ
description Anthropogenic activities increasingly alter Earth’s biogeochemical cycles, threatening the integrity and resilience of critical planetary systems. This perspective paper highlights the pivotal role of biogeochemical cycles in global sustainability challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, and water scarcity, underlining feedbacks that exacerbate ecosystem degradation and diminish Earth’s self-regulating capacity. Advances in integrated Earth system models demonstrate the necessity of capturing nutrient interactions to accurately predict ecosystem productivity and carbon sequestration, particularly under nutrient-limited conditions. The emergence of novel entities introduces unprecedented vulnerabilities to elemental cycles, with their long-term impacts and planetary boundary exceedances still poorly understood. These challenges, coupled with nutrient boundary exceeding and ongoing climate change, regional variability and nonlinear and cascading responses emphasize an urgent need for interdisciplinary research, enhanced monitoring, and robust regulatory frameworks, supported by advances in modeling, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence.
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spelling doaj-art-a723e97cb55949dd82f3fa612366ecfc2025-08-20T03:14:54ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Environmental Science2296-665X2025-06-011310.3389/fenvs.2025.16438791643879Navigating Earth’s biogeochemical dynamics: Integrating elemental cycles, anthropogenic pressures and planetary boundariesVera I. SlaveykovaAnthropogenic activities increasingly alter Earth’s biogeochemical cycles, threatening the integrity and resilience of critical planetary systems. This perspective paper highlights the pivotal role of biogeochemical cycles in global sustainability challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, and water scarcity, underlining feedbacks that exacerbate ecosystem degradation and diminish Earth’s self-regulating capacity. Advances in integrated Earth system models demonstrate the necessity of capturing nutrient interactions to accurately predict ecosystem productivity and carbon sequestration, particularly under nutrient-limited conditions. The emergence of novel entities introduces unprecedented vulnerabilities to elemental cycles, with their long-term impacts and planetary boundary exceedances still poorly understood. These challenges, coupled with nutrient boundary exceeding and ongoing climate change, regional variability and nonlinear and cascading responses emphasize an urgent need for interdisciplinary research, enhanced monitoring, and robust regulatory frameworks, supported by advances in modeling, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2025.1643879/fullclimate changepollutionbiogeochemical cyclesnovel entityplanetary boundaries
spellingShingle Vera I. Slaveykova
Navigating Earth’s biogeochemical dynamics: Integrating elemental cycles, anthropogenic pressures and planetary boundaries
Frontiers in Environmental Science
climate change
pollution
biogeochemical cycles
novel entity
planetary boundaries
title Navigating Earth’s biogeochemical dynamics: Integrating elemental cycles, anthropogenic pressures and planetary boundaries
title_full Navigating Earth’s biogeochemical dynamics: Integrating elemental cycles, anthropogenic pressures and planetary boundaries
title_fullStr Navigating Earth’s biogeochemical dynamics: Integrating elemental cycles, anthropogenic pressures and planetary boundaries
title_full_unstemmed Navigating Earth’s biogeochemical dynamics: Integrating elemental cycles, anthropogenic pressures and planetary boundaries
title_short Navigating Earth’s biogeochemical dynamics: Integrating elemental cycles, anthropogenic pressures and planetary boundaries
title_sort navigating earth s biogeochemical dynamics integrating elemental cycles anthropogenic pressures and planetary boundaries
topic climate change
pollution
biogeochemical cycles
novel entity
planetary boundaries
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2025.1643879/full
work_keys_str_mv AT veraislaveykova navigatingearthsbiogeochemicaldynamicsintegratingelementalcyclesanthropogenicpressuresandplanetaryboundaries