Authors
Erle C Ellis, Kees Klein Goldewijk, Stefan Siebert, Deborah Lightman, Navin Ramankutty
Publication date
2010/9/1
Journal
Global ecology and biogeography
Volume
19
Issue
5
Pages
589-606
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Description
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 biomes (anthromes) were mapped for 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2000 using a rule‐based anthrome classification model applied to gridded global data for human population density and land use. Anthropogenic transformation of terrestrial biomes was then characterized by map comparisons at century intervals.
Results In 1700, nearly half of the terrestrial biosphere was wild, without human settlements or substantial land use. Most of the remainder was in a seminatural state (45%) having only minor use for agriculture and settlements. By 2000, the opposite was true, with the majority of the biosphere in agricultural and settled anthromes, less than 20% seminatural and only a quarter left wild. Anthropogenic transformation …
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Scholar articles
EC Ellis, K Klein Goldewijk, S Siebert, D Lightman… - Global ecology and biogeography, 2010