Abstract

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.

Keywords

Earth (classical element)HumanityAtmosphere (unit)AstrobiologyNatural (archaeology)EcosystemPlanetEnvironmental scienceCarbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphereTerrestrial ecosystemEarth scienceCarbon dioxideEcologyGeographyBiologyGeologyMeteorologyLawArchaeologyPolitical sciencePhysicsAstronomy

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Publication Info

Year
1997
Type
article
Volume
277
Issue
5325
Pages
494-499
Citations
8781
Access
Closed

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Cite This

Peter M. Vitousek, Harold A. Mooney, Jane Lubchenco et al. (1997). Human Domination of Earth's Ecosystems. Science , 277 (5325) , 494-499. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.277.5325.494

Identifiers

DOI
10.1126/science.277.5325.494