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Published online on July 6, 2007, 10.1073/pnas.0704243104 OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE


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Sustainability Science-BS
Quantifying and mapping the human appropriation of net primary production in earth's terrestrial ecosystems

( biomass | global environmental change | human impact | biosphere | land use )

Helmut Haberl *{dagger}, K. Heinz Erb *, Fridolin Krausmann *, Veronika Gaube *, Alberte Bondeau {ddagger}, Christoph Plutzar {sect}, Simone Gingrich *, Wolfgang Lucht {ddagger}, and Marina Fischer-Kowalski *

*Institute of Social Ecology, Klagenfurt University, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Vienna, Austria; {ddagger}Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, P.O. Box 601203, 14412 Potsdam, Germany; and {sect}Vienna Institute for Nature Conservation and Analyses, Giessergasse 6/7, 1090 Vienna, Austria

Communicated by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany, May 25, 2007 (received for review June 5, 2006)

Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP), the aggregate impact of land use on biomass available each year in ecosystems, is a prominent measure of the human domination of the biosphere. We present 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. We found an aggregate global HANPP value of 15.6 Pg C/yr or 23.8% of potential net primary productivity, of which 53% was contributed by harvest, 40% by land-use-induced productivity changes, and 7% by human-induced fires. This is a remarkable impact on the biosphere caused by just one species. We present maps quantifying human-induced changes in trophic energy flows in ecosystems that illustrate spatial patterns in the human domination of ecosystems, thus emphasizing land use as a pervasive factor of global importance. Land use transforms earth's terrestrial surface, resulting in changes in biogeochemical cycles and in the ability of ecosystems to deliver services critical to human well being. The results suggest that large-scale schemes to substitute biomass for fossil fuels should be viewed cautiously because massive additional pressures on ecosystems might result from increased biomass harvest.

Author contributions: H.H., K.H.E., F.K., V.G., and M.F.-K. designed research; H.H., K.H.E., F.K., V.G., A.B., C.P., S.G., and W.L. performed research; K.H.E., F.K., V.G., A.B., C.P., and S.G. analyzed data; and H.H., K.H.E., F.K., W.L., and M.F.-K. wrote the paper.

Conflict of interest statement: A.B. and W.L. are employed by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, of which H.J.S. is a director. However, H.J.S. was not involved in the work submitted and has formed an independent opinion based on the manuscript submitted.

Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.

{dagger}To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Helmut Haberl, E-mail: helmut.haberl{at}uni-klu.ac.at

www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0704243104
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