Humans Have Altered 97 Percent of Earth’s Land Through Habitat and Species Loss
by Theresa Machemer/Smithsonianmag.com
A study published on April 15 in the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change presents evidence that only about three percent of Earth’s land ecosystems remain untouched by human activity.
The analysis focuses on large swaths of land, about 3,860 square miles each, to account for the amount of habitat required by wide-ranging species. The study takes into account three measures of ecological integrity: habitat intactness, which is how human activity has affected the land; faunal intactness, which looks at species loss; and functional intactness, which focuses on species loss among animals that contribute to the health of an ecosystem.
The latter two points measure on-the-ground impacts that couldn’t be assessed with satellite images and demographic data alone, which is how previous studies had looked at human impact, Jonathan Lambert reports for Science News. The new study also shows up to 20 percent of affected ecosystems could be restored to their pre-industrial health with the reintroduction of five or fewer important species.
“Conservation of intact ecosystems is critical for the maintenance of biodiversity on Earth, and in turn for the services that these ecosystems provide to humans,” says Smithsonian Environmental Research Center ecologist Kimberly Komatsu, who was not involved in the study, to New Scientist’s Krista Charles.
Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.
She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.
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Corn and beans, with all the chemicals that it takes in today’s farm, have replaced virgin hardwood forests. My state was 95% covered by forest, in 1920 was less than 15% and today is around 20% forest. In my state alone we have lost the equal of the entire Tongas National forest. Don’t yell about loss of tropical forest when midwesterners can look out their back door to see barren fields.
Mrs. Duff, i have worked in Siberia for a long long time. 1 of 86 Russian regions has a square of 5 Frances. Almost no people there. It is our future. And we preserve it.
Andrew, Excellent!
Humans are part of Nature. However, we do not emit as much greenhouse gas as the Termites do. Ours is recycled from trapped reserves and the Termites cannot do that.
If we don’t keep recycling carbon the cocolithospores will bury it all and kill the Termites food in the end.
#Aloha
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