Harder, better, faster, stronger? Dispersal in the Anthropocene

Humans have altered the dispersal of organisms in the Anthropocene by creating new dispersal mechanisms and altering natural dispersal, with cascading impacts on biodiversity, humans, and ecosystems.Various actions to either promote or limit dispersal will be critical to achieve internationally agreed conservation targets.A classification framework developed in the context of biological invasions has provided valuable insights into dispersal and its management.We extended this framework to encompass all types of dispersal in the Anthropocene.The proposed scheme classifies the movement of organisms into categories associated with active dispersal by humans, human-mediated natural dispersal, and natural dispersal; and can be used to improve our understanding of dispersal, provide policy relevant advice, inform conservation and biosecurity actions, and facilitate monitoring and reporting. The dispersal of organisms in the Anthropocene has been profoundly altered by human activities, with far-reaching consequences for humans, biodiversity, and ecosystems. Managing such dispersal effectively is critical to achieve the 2030 targets of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Here, we bring together insights from invasion science, movement ecology, and conservation biology, and extend a widely used classification framework for the introduction pathways of alien species to encompass other forms of dispersal. We develop a simple, global scheme for classifying the movement of organisms into the types of dispersal that characterise the Anthropocene. The scheme can be used to improve our understanding of dispersal, provide policy relevant advice, inform conservation and biosecurity actions, and enable monitoring and reporting towards conservation targets. The dispersal of organisms in the Anthropocene has been profoundly altered by human activities, with far-reaching consequences for humans, biodiversity, and ecosystems. Managing such dispersal effectively is critical to achieve the 2030 targets of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Here, we bring together insights from invasion science, movement ecology, and conservation biology, and extend a widely used classification framework for the introduction pathways of alien species to encompass other forms of dispersal. We develop a simple, global scheme for classifying the movement of organisms into the types of dispersal that characterise the Anthropocene. The scheme can be used to improve our