Human Domination of Earth's Ecosystems

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) - Tập 277 Số 5325 - Trang 494-499 - 1997
Peter M. Vitousek1, Harold A. Mooney1, Jane Lubchenco1, Jerry M. Melillo1
1P. M. Vitousek and H. A. Mooney are in the Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. J. Lubchenco is in the Department of Zoology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA. J. M. Melillo is at the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy, Old Executive Office Building, Room 443, Washington, DC 20502, USA.

Tóm tắt

Human alteration of Earth is substantial and growing. Between one-third and one-half of the land surface has been transformed by human action; the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has increased by nearly 30 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution; more atmospheric nitrogen is fixed by humanity than by all natural terrestrial sources combined; more than half of all accessible surface fresh water is put to use by humanity; and about one-quarter of the bird species on Earth have been driven to extinction. By these and other standards, it is clear that we live on a human-dominated planet.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Climate Change 1995 (Cambridge Univ. Press Cambridge 1996) pp. 9–49.

United Nations Environment Program Global Biodiversity Assessment V. H. Heywood Ed. (Cambridge Univ. Press Cambridge 1995).

10.1126/science.260.5116.1905

J. S. Olson J. A. Watts L. J. Allison Carbon in Live Vegetation of Major World Ecosystems (Office of Energy Research U.S. Department of Energy Washington DC 1983).

10.2307/1310258

; R. W. Kates B. L. Turner W. C. Clark in (35) pp. 1–17;

Daily G. C., Science 269, 350 (1995).

D. A. Saunders R. J. Hobbs C. R. Margules Conserv. Biol. 5 18 (1991).

10.1126/science.247.4948.1322

R. W. Howarth et al. Biogeochemistry 35 75 (1996).

W. B. Meyer and B. L. Turner II Changes in Land Use and Land Cover: A Global Perspective (Cambridge Univ. Press Cambridge 1994).

Carpenter S. R., Fisher S. G., Grimm N. B., Kitchell J. F., Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 23, 119 (1992);

; S. V. Smith and R. W. Buddemeier ibid. p. 89; J. M. Melillo I. C. Prentice G. D. Farquhar E.-D. Schulze O. E. Sala in (1) pp. 449–481.

R. Leemans and G. Zuidema Trends Ecol. Evol. 10 76 (1995).

World Resources Institute World Resources 1996–1997 (Oxford Univ. Press New York 1996).

Pauly D., Christensen V., Nature 374, 257 (1995).

Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) FAO Fisheries Tech. Pap. 335 (1994).

D. L. Alverson M. H. Freeberg S. A. Murawski J. G. Pope FAO Fisheries Tech. Pap. 339 (1994).

G. M. Hallegraeff Phycologia 32 79 (1993).

D. S. Schimel et al. in Climate Change 1994: Radiative Forcing of Climate Change J. T. Houghton et al. Eds. (Cambridge Univ. Press Cambridge 1995) pp. 39–71.

Andres R. J., Marland G., Fung I. Y., Matthews E., Global Biogeochem. Cycles 10, 419 (1996).

G. W. Koch and H. A. Mooney Carbon Dioxide and Terrestrial Ecosystems (Academic Press San Diego CA 1996); C. Körner and F. A. Bazzaz Carbon Dioxide Populations and Communities (Academic Press San Diego CA 1996).

10.1126/science.271.5250.785

J. N. Abramovitz Imperiled Waters Impoverished Future: The Decline of Freshwater Ecosystems (Worldwatch Institute Washington DC 1996).

M. I. L'vovich and G. F. White in (35) pp. 235–252;

10.1126/science.266.5186.753

10.1126/science.241.4870.1170

; V. Kotlyakov Environment 33 4 (1991).

Humborg C., Ittekkot V., Cociasu A., Bodungen B., Nature 386, 385 (1997).

P. H. Gleick Ed. Water in Crisis (Oxford Univ. Press New York 1993).

Gornitz V., Rosenzweig C., Hillel D., Global Planet. Change 14, 147 (1997).

Milly P. C., Dunne K. A., J. Clim. 7, 506 (1994).

10.1029/95GB00158

J. N. Galloway H. Levy II P. S. Kasibhatla Ambio 23 120 (1994).

V. Smil in (35) pp. 423–436.

P. M. Vitousek et al. Ecol. Appl. in press.

J. D. Aber J. M. Melillo K. J. Nadelhoffer J. Pastor R. D. Boone ibid. 1 303 (1991).

D. Tilman Ecol. Monogr. 57 189 (1987).

S. W. Nixon et al. Biogeochemistry 35 141 (1996).

B. L. Turner II et al. Eds. The Earth As Transformed by Human Action (Cambridge Univ. Press Cambridge 1990).

Stow C. A., Carpenter S. R., Madenjian C. P., Eby L. A., Jackson L. J., Bioscience 45, 752 (1995).

Rowland F. S., Am. Sci. 77, 36 (1989);

Solomon S., Nature 347, 347 (1990) .

M. K. Tolba et al. Eds. The World Environment 1972–1992 (Chapman & Hall London 1992).

S. Postel Defusing the Toxics Threat: Controlling Pesticides and Industrial Waste (Worldwatch Institute Washington DC 1987).

United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Saving Our Planet—Challenges and Hopes (UNEP Nairobi 1992).

J. H. Lawton and R. M. May Eds. Extinction Rates (Oxford Univ. Press Oxford 1995);

10.1126/science.269.5222.347

S. L. Olson in Conservation for the Twenty-First Century D. Western and M. C. Pearl Eds. (Oxford Univ. Press Oxford 1989) p. 50;

10.1126/science.267.5201.1123

R. Barbault and S. Sastrapradja in (2) pp. 193–274.

R. Dirzo and A. Miranda in Plant-Animal Interactions P. W. Price T. M. Lewinsohn W. Fernandes W. W. Benson Eds. (Wiley Interscience New York 1991) p. 273.

10.1038/371065a0

H. A. Mooney J. Lubchenco R. Dirzo O. E. Sala in (2) pp. 279–325.

C. Elton The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants (Methuen London 1958); J. A. Drake et al. Eds. Biological Invasions. A Global Perspective (Wiley Chichester UK 1989).

M. Rejmanek and J. Randall Madrono 41 161 (1994).

C. M. D'Antonio and

Vitousek P. M., Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 23, 63 (1992).

D. M. Lodge Trends Ecol. Evol. 8 133 (1993).

A. N. Cohen and J. T. Carlton Biological Study: Nonindigenous Aquatic Species in a United States Esturary: A Case Study of the Biological Invasions of the San Franciso Bay and Delta (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 1995).

I. Kowarik in Plant Invasions—General Aspects and Special Problems P. Pysek K. Prach M. Rejmánek M. Wade Eds. (SPB Academic Amersterdam 1995) p. 15.

P. M. Vitousek C. M. D'Antonio

Loope L. L., Westbrooks R., Am. Sci. 84, 468 (1996).

W. E. Rees and M. Wackernagel in Investing in Natural Capital: The Ecological Economics Approach to Sustainability A. M. Jansson M. Hammer C. Folke R. Costanza Eds. (Island Washington DC 1994).

G. C. Daily Ed. Nature's Services (Island Washington DC 1997).

10.2307/2937183

Vitousek P. M., ibid. 75, 1861 (1994).

S. M. Garcia and R. Grainger FAO Fisheries Tech. Pap. 359 (1996).

We thank G. C. Daily C. B. Field S. Hobbie D. Gordon P. A. Matson and R. L. Naylor for constructive comments on this paper A. S. Denning and S. M. Garcia for assistance with illustrations and C. Nakashima and B. Lilley for preparing text and figures for publication.