{"id":3519,"date":"2009-09-09T07:18:01","date_gmt":"2009-09-09T07:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/all-geo.org\/highlyallochthonous\/2009\/09\/anthropogenic-biomes\/"},"modified":"2009-09-09T07:18:01","modified_gmt":"2009-09-09T07:18:01","slug":"anthropogenic-biomes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/highlyallochthonous\/2009\/09\/anthropogenic-biomes\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthropogenic biomes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/span>Chris is not the only one who comes across fascinating things via Twitter<\/a>. Just yesterday I was introduced to the concept of anthropogenic biomes. In physical geography, biogeography, and ecology classes we learn and teach about biomes<\/a> – major global ecological communities, classified according to the dominant natural vegetation. But more than 3\/4 of the world’s ice-free land shows the evidence of human activity – and the remaining 1\/4 of the planet supports just 11% of the Earth’s terrestrial net primary production. Recognizing these things, Erle C Ellis and Navin Ramankutty of University of Maryland-Baltimore County and McGill University, respectively, have recently advanced the idea of anthropogenic biomes that characterize the human-altered landscape. Their new view of the world is shown below:
\n\"anthrome_map_v1.jpg\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

Click on the image for a much larger, readable version.<\/em><\/div>\n

Ellis and Ramankutty argue that “anthropogenic biomes are in many ways a more accurate description of broad ecological patterns within the current terrestrial biosphere than are conventional biome systems that describe vegetation patterns based on variations in climate and geology” because such natural patterns are rarely found in large areas outside of the wildland anthropogenic biomes. A few highlights from this view of looking at the world:<\/p>\n