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Human Domination of Earth’s Ecosystems

Article in Science · July 1997

DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-73412-5_1

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Harold Alfred Mooney Jane Lubchenco

Stanford University Oregon State University
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Marine Biological Laboratory
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 Human Domination of Earth's Ecosystems
Peter M. Vitousek, Harold A. Mooney, Jane Lubchenco, Jerry M. Melillo

Human alteration of Earth is substantial and growing. Between one-third and one-half interact with the atmosphere, with aquatic
of the land surface has been transformed by human action; the carbon dioxide con- systems, and with surrounding land. More-
centration in the atmosphere has increased by nearly 30 percent since the beginning of over, land transformation interacts strongly
the Industrial Revolution; more atmospheric nitrogen is fixed by humanity than by all with most other components of global en-
natural terrestrial sources combined; more than half of all accessible surface fresh water vironmental change.
is put to use by humanity; and about one-quarter of the bird species on Earth have been The measurement of land transforma-
driven to extinction. By these and other standards, it is clear that we live on a human- tion on a global scale is challenging; chang-
dominated planet. es can be measured more or less straightfor-
wardly at a given site, but it is difficult to
aggregate these changes regionally and glo-
bally. In contrast to analyses of human al-
AHorganisms modify their environment, reasonably well quantified; all are ongoing. teration of the global carbon cycle, we
and humans are no exception. As the hu- These relatively well-documented changes cannot install instruments on a tropical
man population has grown and the power of in turn entrain further alterations to the rnountain to collect evidence of land trans-
technology has expanded, the scope and functioning of the Earth system, most no- formation. Remote sensing is a most useful
nature of this modification has changed tably by driving global climatic change ( I ) technique, but only recently has there been
drastically. Until recently, the term "hu- and causing irreversible losses of biological a serious scientific effort to use high-resolu-
man-dominated ecosystems" would have diversity (2). tion civilian satellite imagery to evaluate
elicited images of agricultural fields, pas- even the more visible forms of land trans-
tures, or urban landscapes; now it applies Land Transformation formation, such as deforestation, on conti-
with greater or lesser force to all of Earth. nental to global scales (3).
Many ecosystems are dominated directly by The use of land to yield goods and services Land transformation encompasses a
humanity, and no ecosystem on Earth's sur- represents the most substantial human al- wide variety of activities that vary sub-
face is free of pervasive human influence. teration of the Earth system. Human use of stantially in their intensity and conse-
This article provides an overview of hu- land alters the structure and functioning of quences. A t one extreme, 10 to 15% of
man effects on Earth's ecosystems. It is not ecosystems, and it alters how ecosystems Earch's land surface is occupied by row-
intended as a litanv of environmental disas-
ters, though some disastrous situations arc '

described; nor is it intended either to down- Fig. 1. A conceptual

play or to celebrate environ~nentalsucccss- model illustrating hu-
cs, of which there have been many. Rather, manity's direct and indi- Size Resource use
rect effects on the Earth
we explore how large humanity looms as a system [modified from
presence on the globe-how, even on the (5611. Human enterprises
grandest scale, most aspects of the structure
Agriculture Industry Recreation Internationalcommerce
and functioning of Earth's ecosystems can-
I
not be understood without accounting for
the strong, often dominant influence of 4 4
humanity. Land Biotic additions
We view human alterations to the Earth transformation 4 and losses
system as operating through the interacting Land clearing V Invasion
processes summarized in Fig. 1. The growth Forestry Hunting
Grazing Global Fishing
of the human population, and growth in the Intensification biogeochemistry
resource base used by humanity, is main- Carbon

J
tained by a suite of human enterprises such Nitrogen
as agriculture, industry, fishing, and inter- Water
Synthetic chemicals
national commerce. These enterprises Other elements
transform the land surface (through crop-
ping, forestry, and urbanization), alter the
major biogeochemical cycles, and add or
remove species and genetically distinct pop-
ulations in most of Earth's ecosystems.
Many of these changes are substantial and
Climate change Loss of
biological diversity
P. M. Vitousek and H. A. Mwney are in the Department Enhanced
of BiologicalSciences, Stanford University. Stanford, CA
greenhouse Extinction of species
94305, USA. J. Lubchenco is in the Departmentof Zool-
and populations
ogy, Oregon State University, Co~allis,OR 97331,
USA. J. M. Melillo is at the U.S. Office of Science and
Technology Policy, Old Executive Office Building. Rwrn I
Aerosols
Land cover I I Loss of ecosystems
443, Washington. DC 20502. USA.

494 SCIENCE VOL. 277 25 JULY 1997 www.sciencemag.org

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