A Century of Physical Geography Research in the Annals

In this article I summarize the status and trends in physical geography over the first 100 years of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers. Drawing on the original papers and recent literature that reviews biogeography, climatology, and geomorphology, I describe the change in the focus of physical geographers over the last century and anticipate future developments in physical geography. Physical geographers have always responded to changes in methodologies and to broader developments in earth and environmental sciences. Their work currently explores environmental systems developing process-based understanding. Recent methodological and conceptual developments include the adoption of approaches from complexity science to understand dynamic and nonlinear behaviors of environmental systems. There is also a growing move toward the challenge of addressing coupled human and natural systems in an integrated and holistic manner. This is not only a challenge for physical geography but also for geography as a whole, reflecting the capacity of the discipline to analyze and understand complex behaviors and dynamics using a diversity of quantitative and qualitative methods; methodologies that span social, economic, behavioral, and biophysical systems; and an ability to link basic and applied research to use geographic expertise to address contemporary environmental issues of importance.