Anthropogenic transformation of the terrestrial biosphere
@article{Ellis2011AnthropogenicTO, title={Anthropogenic transformation of the terrestrial biosphere}, author={Erle C. Ellis}, journal={Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences}, year={2011}, volume={369}, pages={1010 - 1035} }
Human populations and their use of land have transformed most of the terrestrial biosphere into anthropogenic biomes (anthromes), causing a variety of novel ecological patterns and processes to emerge. To assess whether human populations and their use of land have directly altered the terrestrial biosphere sufficiently to indicate that the Earth system has entered a new geological epoch, spatially explicit global estimates of human populations and their use of land were analysed across the…
687 Citations
Used planet: A global history
- Environmental ScienceProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- 2013
Recent scientific evidence and theory is synthesized to explain why relatively small human populations likely caused widespread and profound ecological changes more than 3,000 y ago, whereas the largest and wealthiest human populations in history are using less arable land per person every decade.
Dating the Anthropocene: Towards an empirical global history of human transformation of the terrestrial biosphere
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 2013
Human use of land is a major cause of the global environmental changes that define the Anthropocene. Archaeological and paleoecological evidence confirm that human populations and their use of land…
Aspects of the ecology of Cape porcupines on farmlands, peri-urban and suburban areas in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
- Environmental Science
- 2018
The unprecedented changes in the environmental and ecological processes of the biosphere have led some to believe that we have transitioned into a new geological era from the Holocene. This current…
Land Use and Ecological Change: A 12,000-Year History
- Environmental ScienceAnnual Review of Environment and Resources
- 2021
Human use of land has been transforming Earth's ecology for millennia. From hunting and foraging to burning the land to farming to industrial agriculture, increasingly intensive human use of land has…
Sustaining biodiversity and people in the world's anthropogenic biomes
- Environmental Science
- 2013
Ecology in an anthropogenic biosphere
- Environmental Science
- 2015
A general causal theory is presented to explain why human societies gained the capacity to globally alter the patterns, processes, and dynamics of ecology and how these anthropogenic alterations unfold over time and space as societies themselves change over human generational time.
Biogeography of the Anthropocene
- Environmental Science
- 2014
A new biogeography of the Anthropocene could help to develop additional criteria to evaluate the degree and timing of human impacts, and innovative ways to proactively manage biological diversity.
Historic Changes in Terrestrial Carbon Storage
- Environmental Science
- 2012
Human use of land has reduced the amount of carbon (C) in terrestrial ecosystems, probably since the first use of fire as a tool for clearing land thousands of years ago. Because variations in…
Anthropogenic Biomes: 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE
- Environmental Science
- 2020
Human populations and their use of land have reshaped landscapes for thousands of years, creating the anthropogenic biomes (anthromes) that now cover most of the terrestrial biosphere. Here we…
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 157 REFERENCES
Anthropogenic transformation of the biomes, 1700 to 2000
- Environmental Science
- 2010
Aim To map and characterize anthropogenic transformation of the terrestrial biosphere before and during the Industrial Revolution, from 1700 to 2000.
Location Global.
Methods Anthropogenic…
Putting people in the map: anthropogenic biomes of the world
- Environmental Science
- 2008
Humans have fundamentally altered global patterns of biodiversity and ecosystem processes. Surprisingly, existing systems for representing these global patterns, including biome classifications,…
Holocene carbon emissions as a result of anthropogenic land cover change
- Environmental Science
- 2011
Humans have altered the Earth’s land surface since the Paleolithic mainly by clearing woody vegetation first to improve hunting and gathering opportunities, and later to provide agricultural…
Quantifying and mapping the human appropriation of net primary production in earth's terrestrial ecosystems
- Environmental ScienceProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- 2007
A comprehensive assessment of global HANPP based on vegetation modeling, agricultural and forestry statistics, and geographical information systems data on land use, land cover, and soil degradation that localizes human impact on ecosystems suggests large-scale schemes to substitute biomass for fossil fuels should be viewed cautiously.
INTRODUCED SPECIES: A SIGNIFICANT COMPONENT OF HUMAN-CAUSED GLOBAL CHANGE
- Environmental Science
- 1997
It is suggested that biological invasions by notorious species like the zebra mussel, and its many less-famous counterparts, have become so widespread as to represent a significant component of global environmental change.
ARCHAEOLOGY AND GLOBAL CHANGE: The Holocene Record
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 2005
This review concludes that in some areas and time periods, environmental change led to long-term negative consequences for regional human populations, whereas in otland, such changes have a much longer history.
The current biodiversity extinction event: Scenarios for mitigation and recovery
- Environmental ScienceProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- 2001
Intervention by humans, the very agents of the current environmental crisis, is required for any possibility of short-term recovery or maintenance of the biota.
Responses of plant populations and communities to environmental changes of the late Quaternary
- Environmental Science, GeographyPaleobiology
- 2000
Abstract The environmental and biotic history of the late Quaternary represents a critical junction between ecology, global change studies, and pre-Quaternary paleobiology. Late Quaternary records…
Anthropogenic Disturbance of the Terrestrial Water Cycle
- Environmental Science
- 2000
climate, ecology, and biogeochemistry of the planet. Mounting historical evidence for the influence of greenhouse warming on recent climate, and modeling projections into the future, highlight…