We examine three distinctive biostratigraphic signatures of humans associated with hunting and gathering, landscape domestication and globalization. All three signatures have significant fossil records of regional importance that can be correlated inter‐regionally and help describe the developing pattern of human expansion and appropriation of resources. While none have individual first or last appearances that provide a globally isochronous marker, all three signatures overlap stratigraphically, in that they are part of a continuum of change, with complex regional patterns. Here we show that during the later stages of globalization, late nineteenth to twentieth century records of species translocations can be used to build an interconnected web of palaeontological correlation with decadal or sub‐decadal precision that dovetails with other stratigraphic markers for the Anthropocene. This palaeontological web is also a proxy for accelerating species extinction and of a state shift in the biosphere in the twentieth century.

The invasive benthic foraminifera Trochammina hadai has been found for the first time in Europe along the coast of Normandy. Its native range of distribution is in Asia (Japan and Korea), and it has also been introduced along the coasts of western North America, Brazil and Australia. Morphological and molecular assessments confirm that specimens found in Le Havre and Caen-Ouistreham harbors belong to the Asiatic type. Like in Asia, T. hadai was found in transitional waters with muddy sediments. It exhibited high relative abundances (up to about 40%) confirming that T. hadai is a highly competitive species. In the present study, it was nearly absent from natural transitional waters and very abundant in heavily modified habitats like harbors, suggesting that ballast waters may likely be the vector of introduction. It was not recorded farther north along the coast of the Hauts-de-France. It is further hypothesized that the finding of a few specimens outside the harbor may facilitate the expansion of T. hadai in the English Channel by means of propagules dispersion.

We investigated the potential role of ballast sediment from coastal and transoceanic oil tankers arriving and de-ballasting in Port Valdez as a vector for the introduction of invasive benthic foraminifera in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Forty-one ballast sediment samples were obtained during 1998–1999 from 11 oil tankers that routinely discharged their ballast in Prince William Sound after sailing from other West Coast (Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor, San Francisco Bay, and Puget Sound) or foreign ports (Japan, Korea, and China) where they originally ballasted. Forty of these samples contained benthic foraminifera, including 27 (66%) with the introduced species Trochammina hadai Uchio from nine (81%) of the ships. In all, 59 species were recovered and foraminiferal abundance peaked at 27,000 specimens per gram dry sediment. Of the 41 samples, three were stained and living benthic foraminifera were recovered in all three of them. The entrained foraminifera reflected the number of times ballasting occurred (single or multiple sources), the location of ballasting (estuarine or offshore), and post-acquisition alteration of the sediment (i.e., growth of gypsum crystals at the possible expense of calcareous tests). In temperate regions, sediment samples resulting from single-source ballasting in estuaries (SSBE), multiple-source ballasting in estuaries (MSBE), single-source ballasting offshore (SSBO), and a combination of SSBO and SSBE or MSBE, typically contained increasingly higher species richness, respectively. The potential for foreign species invasion is dependent on the presence of viable candidates and their survivability, their abundance in the ballasting location, and the number of times ballasting occurs, most of which are evident from the ship's ballasting history. We estimate that 442.1 billion to 8.84 trillion living foraminifera were introduced into Port Valdez in a single year, suggesting it is quite likely that an invasive species could be successfully established there. Trochammina hadai is a good example of a successful invasive in Prince William Sound for the following reasons: 1) the species is abundant enough in U.S. West Coast and foreign ports where ballasting occurs that sufficient individuals needed for reproduction may be transported to the receiving waters; 2) Port Valdez, in particular, receives repeated and frequent inoculations from the same source ports where T. hadai is present; 3) large quantities of sediment are taken up by commercial vessels during ballasting and benthic foraminifera occur in abundance in ballast sediment; 4) ballast sediment provides a suitable environment in which benthic foraminifera can survive for extended periods of time during transport; 5) T. hadai flourishes in a wide range of temperatures and environmental conditions that characterize both the ports where ballasting takes place as well as in Port Valdez where de-ballasting occurs; and 6) the species is capable of asexual reproduction and possibly the ability to form a dormant resting stage, both of which have the potential to lower the threshold for colonization. Clearly, ballast sediment is a viable vector for the introduction of T. hadai and other invasives into Alaskan ports and elsewhere worldwide.