Appropriation Of Net Primary Production Research Articles

Natural assets, changes, and variations of the socioeconomic-environmental systems along the Asian drylands belt

Abstract The amount of and changes in a country's natural assets are crucial for developing national strategic plans and policies due to their foundational role in determining the resilience of social-environmental systems (SES), especially under a changing climate. Many integrated metrics on natural assets have been proposed based on individual measures to provide insights into the state of national natural resources. This is particularly true for countries experiencing extreme environmental stresses. Drawing on longitudinal data spanning from 1980 to 2020, the objective of this study is to analyze nuanced distinctions across 23 political entities (PEs) in the dryland regions of mid-latitudinal Asia, investigating their interannual variabilities over the four-decade study period and discerning potential driving forces. We examined three key integrated measures of the SES: ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE), human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP), and human appropriation of water resources (HAWR). We found increased variability as well as spikes in extreme values in each of these three measures of SES function among the 23 PEs over the study period. Water stress played an increasing and more important role than temperature in influencing the magnitude and variations of the three measures. Our results also indicate that human interventions may help increase the efficiency of water use in this dryland region of the world.

Rethinking the Anthropocene: Not a time-transgressive event but a sudden rupture on the geologic time scale

The recent decision by the International Commission on Stratigraphy to reject the Anthropocene as an Epoch has reignited the debate on its definition. Some scholars have argued for interpreting the Anthropocene as an Event with no specific point of onset, but this argument has its shortcomings, including the fact that the term event has multiple connotations. This Viewpoint adds important insight to the ongoing debate by positing that (i) deliberations on the Anthropocene’s definition should not be confined to geological and historical viewpoints and must include ecological insights, and (ii) there is widespread evidence of anthropogenic reconfiguration of the planetary biosphere which translates to an accelerating sixth mass extinction as well as a conspicuous rise in the Human Appropriation of Net Primary Productivity (HANPP) at an unprecedented rate during the past few decades. When considered together with rapid anthropogenic climate change, these trends mark a major departure from previous trends on the geologic timescale, and they clearly show that the planetary biosphere has recently undergone a sudden and abrupt shift into a novel state, which cannot be adequately described by a temporally diffuse, gradual event; and must be conceptualized as a rupture—a geologically sudden major departure from prevalent trends; which in turn justifies the conceptualization of the Anthropocene as a separate chronostratigraphic unit. Understanding the catastrophic nature of the recent anthropogenic impact on the planetary biosphere is crucial for interpreting the Anthropocene and geologists must be cautious not to dilute its magnitude.

Mapping ecological resource use and supply-consumption difference in China from 2000 to 2020

Net primary production (NPP) is a vital ecological resource essential for ecosystem services and economic development. Human appropriation of NPP (HANPP) measures the aggregate impact of human activities on the biomass produced annually in ecosystems. However, the coarse mapping of HANPP hinders the identification of the spatial dynamics in ecological resources use and the high-pressure areas. Using machine learning, our study annually mapped China’s HANPP at 1 km resolution due to grain, wood and animal production as well as land use changes from 2000 to 2020. High-pressure ecological resource zones expanded, primarily due to livestock farming. The pressure of ecological resources varied along the longitudinal axis. Ecological resource use is generally low in poverty areas. The spatial patterns of the supply-consumption difference of the ecological resources were also mapped, reflecting the spatial flows of ecological resources from poverty areas to non-poverty areas. This promotes the sustainable development in both areas.

A new method to quantify the impacts of human activity on soil conservation service

Human activities and climate change impact ecosystem services, thereby affecting economic and social sustainable development. Measuring the heterogeneity in space and time of how human activities affect ecosystem services poses a challenge for the sustainable management of land resources. Based on “human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) - Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC) - Soil Conservation Service (SCS)” cascading effect, first, a geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model was employed to assess the impact of HANPP in percent of potential NPP (hereafter HANPP%) on the FVC; second, changes in the FVC caused by human activities were quantified; and third, the potential soil conservation service (SCSp) and actual soil conservation service (SCSa) were estimated using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model, and the difference between them represented the changes in soil conservation service caused by human activities (SCSh). Taking the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as a case study, we found that the GTWR model was well suited for analyzing the relationship between the HANPP% and the FVC (R2 = 0.897). The HANPP resulted in a decrease in the FVC from 0.222 in 2001 to 0.199 in 2019 and correspondingly resulted in a decrease in the ratio of SCSh to SCSp from 8.95% to 7.24%. This study provides a quantitative method that allows quantifying the influence of human activity on ecosystem services closely related to the FVC.

Crop mapping and quantitative evaluation of cultivated land use intensity in Shandong Province, 2018–2022

AbstractIndustrialization and urbanization have intensified land‐use pressures on agroecosystems. Monitoring cultivated land use intensity (CLUI) is crucial for implementing sustainable agriculture. However, current agroecosystem management in Shandong Province lacks high‐resolution CLUI information. To address this gap, this study measured and analyzed CLUI at a 1‐km scale in Shandong Province from 2018 to 2022, using self‐produced crop maps and the human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) framework. The spatial autocorrelation model was used to analyze the spatiotemporal pattern and aggregation characteristics of cultivated land use intensity. The influencing factors of CLUI were analyzed using the propensity score matching method, which helps reduce the interference of confounding factors. The results are as follows: (1) The wheat‐maize planting pattern in Shandong Province has remained relatively stable, with a notable trend toward intensified cultivation in the western region. (2) CLUI exhibited notable spatial and temporal heterogeneity, with low and medium values predominantly located in the western region. CLUI increased from 1.13 to 1.24, exceeding the global average of 0.84. (3) CLUI showed significant spatial aggregation characteristics. In 2018, 2020, and 2022, the western region was mainly characterized by high‐high and high‐low types. In 2019 and 2021, it was mainly characterized by the low‐low type, with less prevalence of low‐high type. The center of gravity of high‐high and low‐high types shifted southwest, whereas that of high‐low and low‐low types shifted northeast. (4) Chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and plastic mulch exhibited significant positive correlations with CLUI, whereas temperature and precipitation showed significant negative correlations. Favorable natural conditions can mitigate human interference, leading to lower CLUI.

Ecological restoration largely alleviates livestock grazing pressure in a montane grassland

Over the past few decades, grassland productivity in mountainous regions has been increasingly affected by livestock grazing and land use/cover changes. Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) is a valuable metric for assessing human impacts on grasslands. To date, knowledge of the patterns and drivers of HANPP in montane grasslands remains limited. In this study, we developed a 1 km × 1 km resolution HANPP dataset for the grasslands of the Qilian Mountains from 2000 to 2020 using two process-based models. We aimed to examine the spatial distribution characteristics and temporal trends of HANPP and explore the effects of climatic conditions, rural populations, cultivated areas, and livestock numbers on the interannual variability of HANPP. The results showed that HANPP decreased significantly with increasing elevation due to the corresponding decrease in population density. During the study period, HANPP showed a widespread decline, which was significant in 15.4% of the grassland area, mainly in alpine meadows. Climatic factors and human activities explained 60.8% and 39.2% of the temporal variability in HANPP, respectively. In particular, precipitation was negatively correlated with HANPP, whereas air temperature and number of livestock were positively correlated with HANPP based on correlation analysis. By providing a refined spatial assessment of human impacts on montane grasslands, this study suggests that ecological restoration projects, especially the Grain to Green and Grazing Withdrawal Programs, can reduce human pressures on grassland productivity by controlling population density and grazing intensity. Furthermore, the adoption of enclosed paddocks and supplemental feeding may mitigate montane grassland degradation near villages. This study elucidates the primary factors influencing the spatiotemporal patterns of HANPP in an area with typical montane grasslands, thereby supporting research-based decision making.

Demand-side insights for steering human appropriation of net primary productivity within planetary boundaries

Demand-side insights for steering human appropriation of net primary productivity within planetary boundaries

Exploring the relationships between human consumption and environmental pressure: A case study of the Yangtze river economic zone in China.

It is crucial to decouple and coordinate human consumption and its environmental pressure for achieving sustainable development. As an important aspect of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG12), sustainability on material consuming is still in its early stages of research. To address the research gap in sustainable consumption of vegetation net primary productivity (NPP), this study analyzed the spatio-temporal dynamics of human consumption and environmental pressure in the Yangtze River Economic Zone (YREZ) using consumption-based HANPP (cHANPP) and Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) as indicators. Later, we measured their decoupling relationship using Tapio decoupling approach. We found that distribution of HANPP and cHANPP were regionally separated, with the former mainly concentrated in the middle and upper reaches provinces, while the latter concentrated in the lower reach provinces. From 2004 to 2019, the relationship between HANPP and cHANPP changed from strong negative decoupling to weak decoupling in the YREZ. Furthermore, the relationship was differed among different regions. As a whole, developing regions showed a weak decoupling state, experiencing an increase in environmental pressure (i.e., HANPP) alongside increased human consumption (i.e., cHANPP). In contrast, developed regions showed a strong decoupling state, experiencing a decrease in environmental pressure (i.e., HANPP) alongside increased human consumption (i.e., cHANPP). Our study highlights that different countermeasures should be formulated by regions according to their own situation to realize sustainable regional development.

Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries.

This planetary boundaries framework update finds that six of the nine boundaries are transgressed, suggesting that Earth is now well outside of the safe operating space for humanity. Ocean acidification is close to being breached, while aerosol loading regionally exceeds the boundary. Stratospheric ozone levels have slightly recovered. The transgression level has increased for all boundaries earlier identified as overstepped. As primary production drives Earth system biosphere functions, human appropriation of net primary production is proposed as a control variable for functional biosphere integrity. This boundary is also transgressed. Earth system modeling of different levels of the transgression of the climate and land system change boundaries illustrates that these anthropogenic impacts on Earth system must be considered in a systemic context.

Agricultural HANPP Embodied in Consumption: Tracing Pressure on Ecosystems Based on an MRIO Analysis.

Agriculture is one of humankind's most significant sources of biomass; it also places tremendous pressure on ecosystems through its increasing demand for agricultural products. However, few studies have assessed human pressures on ecosystems from agricultural production and consumption based on a whole-supply-chain perspective. Based on the concept of human appropriation of net primary productivity (HANPP), we evaluate trends of agricultural HANPP embodied in consumption from a global perspective and trace the pressure from agriculture production that is exerted on the environment using an environmentally extended multiregional input-output (MRIO) model. The results show that agricultural HANPP embodied in consumption accounted for over two-thirds of total HANPP but brought about less than 7% of global value added. India, Brazil, and China were found to have the highest level of agricultural HANPP embodied in consumption. Agricultural net exporters were found to usually be low- and lower-income countries, while net importers are found to be high-income countries. According to the driving factor analysis, high-income and low-income countries should cooperate by adjusting consumption patterns and sharing agricultural technology to alleviate the pressure from agricultural production. Our study highlights the importance of agrarian expertise sharing and the need to develop sustainable and green agricultural production.

Land cover flows and land use intensity in the three decades of the post-communist Czechia: Changing trends and driving forces

The land system faces many pressures from the provision of biomass resources and space to the economy. The need to understand land use and cover changes and its drivers is of high importance. This work presents an innovative approach by applying a transdisciplinary approach combining the methods of spatial analysis Land Cover Flows with the methods from the concept of socio-economic metabolism, Material and Energy Flow Accounting, Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) and Final Energy Return on Investment (FEROI). Our main aim is to identify the main land use changes and land cover flows, link them to the underlying socio-economic processes and interpret them in a historical context. Our results show that the overall land use intensity is growing although the positive trends of growing grasslands and forests started after the collapse of communism. The growing intensity of agricultural production with increasing suburbanization reversed these trends. Until the 2000s the HANPP decreased but at the end of the period increased from 55% in 2012 to 70% in 2018. Volumes of the extraction of agricultural biomass are growing while the area of agricultural land has decreased. FEROI grew and stabilized to around 1.0 in the last period (2012–2018) comparable to the value found in the year 2001. The suburbanization rates peaked after the year 2000 at 250 m2/km2/yr.

An integrated method to quantify human appropriation of net primary production in grasslands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) is an important indicator for measuring anthropogenic influences on ecosystems. However, it is a challenge to accurately delineate the spatial heterogeneity of the HANPP, mainly due to great uncertainties in the simulation of potential net primary production (NPPp). Here, we established a novel method for simulating grassland NPPp by integrating ecoregion delineation and a random forest (RF) model and derived HANPP calculated by the NPPp minus NPP remaining in the ecosystem after harvest (NPPeco). In a case study of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), we evaluated the proposed method via validation and comparison with the NPPp and HANPP results in 2010 based on the Thornthwaite Memorial (TM) model and LPJ-GUESS model. The results indicated that the grassland NPPp values simulated by our method were closer to the observed field data in the two ecoregions, while the TM model generally overestimated NPPp. Moreover, the spatial distribution of the grassland HANPP based on the proposed method showed a high correlation coefficient (0.704) with grazing intensity, which was 0.669 higher than that of the TM model and 0.21 higher than that of the LPJ-GUESS model. The proposed method can provide a valuable basis for grassland sustainability assessment and disaggregating livestock data from administrative units into grid cells.

Uncovering the effects of policies, climate, and economic development on carbon neutrality in southern Tibet, China

Partitioning the contributions of climate, economic growth, and policy to a region’s carbon flows is an important process for the Chinese government seeking to optimize their regional development policies to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. A combination of the carbon emission analysis and human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) framework was applied to a village in the Lhasa river valley, Tibet, to quantify the contributions of these different factors to carbon flows and neutrality. From 2010 to 2019, the average annual net sequestration of CO2 was 374.9 g CO2 m−2 a−1. Changes in climate conditions and the regional policy of Grassland Ecological Protection Subsidy and Reward increased carbon sequestrations by 409.5 and 25.7 g CO2 m−2 a−1, respectively. Socioeconomic development, policies for reducing poverty, and promotion of forage production led to the increase in CO2 emissions by 103.5, 88.8, and 4.3 g CO2 m−2 a−1, respectively. The cumulative CO2 emissions (including HANPP) caused by land use were 298.92 Tg CO2 (2479.63 g CO2 m−2; 1 Tg = 1012 g), while the cumulative CO2 emissions due to energy use were only 11.22 Tg CO2 (93.07 g CO2 m−2), equal to 3.75% of the CO2 emissions driven by land use. Livestock grazing and cropland cultivation were the two main land use factors affecting the carbon balance. We argue that unhooking economic growth from traditional nomadic animal husbandry and lifestyles through policy optimizations would highly contribute the carbon neutrality in Tibet.

China’s Urban and Rural Development Significantly Affects the Pattern of Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production

Increasing human activities have greatly influenced the ecosystem and the use of ecological resources, and the unbalanced urban–rural development in China (urban and rural areas being two major bases of human activities) has always been accompanied by heterogeneous ecological effects. Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) is an integrated indicator quantifying the human domination of productivity and harvest in the biosphere. Identifying the unbalanced constraints of urban and rural development on HANPP has become necessary for improving human–land relationships. This study analyzed the spatial distribution and regional differentiations of the HANPP in China in 2015 and investigated how HANPP and its components responded to unbalanced regional urban–rural development. The results show that the total amount of HANPP was 2.68 PgC and gradually decreased from the southeast to the northwest of China in 2015, representing 60.33% of the NPPpot. In addition, HANPPluc, harvest through cropland, livestock grazing, and forestry contributed 60.70%, 29.86%, 8.53%, and 0.91%, respectively, to the total HANPP, with HANPPluc playing the dominant role in 21 provinces. There was a significant differentiation (p < 0.05) in the spatial distribution of HANPP (gC/m2), HANPPharv (gC/m2), and HANPPluc (gC/m2), especially between the Huanyong Hu Line and the western–eastern part of China, fundamentally resulting from uneven regional development. In addition, biomass production–consumption decoupling existed in most regions in China, 17 provinces were identified as consumption type, and a universal positive correlation (p < 0.05) was identified between the production–consumption ratio of occupied biomass and HANPPharv (%HANPP). Different drive mechanisms were found between urban–rural development and HANPP, and each HANPP index was more likely to be affected by urban economy (UE), rural population (RP), and rural agricultural technology (RA) in China. The higher regional average nighttime light intensity, the proportion of the built-up area, and the urban road area corresponded with a large HANPPluc value. Conversely, HANPP would decrease as the proportion of urban green spaces increased. Furthermore, HANPP (%NPPpot) and HANPP (gC/m2) mostly depended on the rural development index, while HANPPluc and HANPPharv were mainly controlled by urban and rural development, respectively. Our findings help understand, first, how unbalanced regional development influences human-induced biomass occupation, the comprehensive urban ecological construction, and rural ecological restoration and, second, that the overall planning of urban–rural integration development must be strengthened to face greater ecological pressures in the future.

Product-Specific human appropriation of net primary production in US counties

Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) has been developed in the 21st century as an ecological indicator that may supersede ecological footprint due to its spatial specificity, precise measurement of land use intensity, and potential to be tied to trade in biomass-based products, thus enabling a consumption-based analysis. Fusing publicly available data sources, this paper presents a product-specific, county-level analysis of HANPP harvested from crops, timber and grazing in the conterminous United States in the years 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2012, the most recent dates for which all necessary data are available. Total HANPP(harvest) was 716–834 megatonnes (MT), including 514–615 MT from crops, 105–148 MT from timber and 64–76 MT grazed. Of this total, 432–512 MT, 60–66 percent, was a harvested commodity while the remainder was straw and forest slash; 83–84 percent was above-ground HANPP. Mean HANPP density varied from 92 − 107 gCm-2yr−1 in the years studied. With net primary production (NPP) varying from 558 − 610 gCm-2yr−1, this is 15–17 percent of NPP; NPP(ecological) thus varied from 466 − 577 gCm-2yr−1, 83–85 percent of NPP. The specific products with the largest proportions of HANPP were corn grain (26–32 %), soybeans (9–11 %), hardwood (6–10 %) and softwood (8–9 %) timber, grazing on private land (7–9 %), wheat (6–9 %), alfalfa (5–6 %) and aggregated minor crops (15–18 %). Among states, HANPP density varies from 7 gCm-2yr−1 in Nevada to 391 gCm-2yr−1 in Iowa and from 2 % of NPP in Massachusetts to 53 % in Iowa. Disaggregated analysis for 3101 counties shows even greater variation, from less than 1 to 726 gCm-2yr−1, and delineates regions carrying similar HANPP signatures. In the U.S. context, data availability and stoichiometry choices place only modest limitations on the accuracy of HANPP estimates making it a valuable ecological indicator for analyzing land use intensity, especially in agricultural ecosystems.

Human appropriation of net primary production as driver of change in landscape-scale vertebrate richness.

Land use is the most pervasive driver of biodiversity loss. Predicting its impact on species richness (SR) is often based on indicators of habitat loss. However, the degradation of habitats, especially through land-use intensification, also affects species. Here, we evaluate whether an integrative metric of land-use intensity, the human appropriation of net primary production, is correlated with the decline of SR in used landscapes across the globe. Global. Present. Birds, mammals and amphibians. Based on species range maps (spatial resolution: 20 km × 20 km) and an area-of-habitat approach, we calibrated a "species-energy model" by correlating the SR of three groups of vertebrates with net primary production and biogeographical covariables in "wilderness" areas (i.e., those where available energy is assumed to be still at pristine levels). We used this model to project the difference between pristine SR and the SR corresponding to the energy remaining in used landscapes (i.e., SR loss expected owing to human energy extraction outside wilderness areas). We validated the projected species loss by comparison with the realized and impending loss reconstructed from habitat conversion and documented by national Red Lists. Species-energy models largely explained landscape-scale variation of mapped SR in wilderness areas (adjusted R 2-values: 0.79-0.93). Model-based projections of SR loss were lower, on average, than reconstructed and documented ones, but the spatial patterns were correlated significantly, with stronger correlation in mammals (Pearson's r=0.68) than in amphibians (r=0.60) and birds (r=0.57). Our results suggest that the human appropriation of net primary production is a useful indicator of heterotrophic species loss in used landscapes, hence we recommend its inclusion in models based on species-area relationships to improve predictions of land-use-driven biodiversity loss.

Allocation of U.S. Biomass Production to Food, Feed, Fiber, Fuel and Exports

This paper analyzes the end uses—food, feed, fiber, fuel, and exports—of biomass production in the U.S. in 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012. They are also analyzed at the state level in 2012. Biomass production is measured as human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP), an ecological footprint measured as carbon fixed through photosynthesis, derived from data on crop, timber and grazing yields. HANPP was allocated to end uses using publicly available sources from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and internet-based sources publishing data on agricultural trade. HANPP was 717–834 megatons (MT) of carbon per year, which comprised 515–615 MT of crop-based, 105–149 MT timber-based, and 64–76 MT of grazed HANPP. Livestock feed commanded the largest proportion, but decreased from 395 (50%) to 305 MT (42%) of all HANPP and 320 to 240 MT (58–44%) of crop-based HANPP. The proportion allocated to exports was stable at 118–141 MT (17–18%) of total HANPP and 112–133 MT (21–23%) of crop-based HANPP. Biofiber decreased from 141 MT (18%) to 97 MT (13%) of all HANPP. Biofuel increased strongly from 11 MT to 98 MT, from 1% to 14% of all HANPP and 2% to 18% of crop-based HANPP, surpassing food and biofiber by 2012. Direct food commanded 89–105 MT, the lowest proportion at 12–13% of all HANPP, and 17–18% of crop-based HANPP. The highly fertile Midwest and the drought-prone Intermountain West stand out as regions where a very small percentage of biomass is allocated to direct human food. The high proportions of biomass production allocated to nonfood uses is consistent with the tragedy of ecosystem services and commodification of nature frameworks. Reducing these proportions presents opportunities for improving ecosystem services, food security, and human well-being.

Quantitative assessment of cultivated land use intensity in Heilongjiang Province, China, 2001–2015

Cultivated land is a crucial resource for human survival and development. The sustainable use of cultivated land is the foundation for ensuring food security and maintaining social stability. The Chinese government has promulgated a series of policies to protect cultivated land, focusing on the quantity, quality, and health of cultivated land. However, these policies lack adequate focus on aspects such as the intensity and sustainable use of the cultivated land. Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) is an important method for measuring land use intensity and ecosystem sustainability. Based on the HANPP framework, this study estimated the cultivated land use intensity (CLUI) at a 1-km-scale in Heilongjiang from 2001 to 2015. Spatial autocorrelation models were used to analyse the spatio-temporal patterns and aggregation characteristics of CLUI, and correlation analysis model was used to reveal the influencing factors of CLUI in time and space. The results included the following: (1) Utilization intensity of wheat (CLUIwheat), maize (CLUImaize), and all crops (CLUIall) increased by 0.07, 0.44, and 0.26, respectively, and rice (CLUIrice) decreased by 0.07 over 15 years. However, in the long term, cultivated land with rice had a higher utilization intensity with an average of 1.54, followed by maize (1.46) and wheat (1.23), which were significantly higher than the global average CLUI (approximately 0.84). Meanwhile, crop type conversion (from wheat and corn to rice, and from corn to rice) could significantly increase CLUI. (2) CLUIall had significant spatial heterogeneity and spatial aggregation characteristics. The barycentre of high-value aggregation of CLUIall moved to the northwest, while the barycentre of low-value aggregation moved to the southwest during the study period. (3) Fertilizers, pesticides, and plastic mulch had a significant positive correlation with CLUI. Excellent natural conditions could withstand more human disturbance and had lower utilization intensity. (4) Implementing the "Storing Grain in Land and Technology" strategy and cultivated recuperation policy to solve the high utilization intensity should be a priority. Scientific cropping structure, suitable cropping system, and reasonable fossil energy input were effective means to reduce the CLUI and achieve sustainable land use. In addition, establishing CLUI monitoring networks was an effective measure to obtain CLUI dynamics in a timely manner.

Modelling ecological scarcity considering the long-term interaction between human and nature in dry agricultural landscapes. Application in Qazvin (Iran)

Land Use and Cover Change (LUCC) is a pervasive driver of today's global socioecological crisis. In light of the LUCC in many agricultural landscapes worldwide, natural resource conservation is critical. Put-aside dry agricultural landscapes have significant limitations when attempting to guarantee long-term food production and other ecosystem services in ecological scarcity conditions under climate change scenarios. In this research, an Intermediate Disturbance-Complexity (IDC) model was applied to evaluate how ecological scarcity in NW Iran can be affected by anthropogenic disturbance and landscape complexity. This model calculates both the behaviour of the Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP), a proxy of the amount of anthropic disturbance, and a Landscape Ecology (Le) metric, which measures complexity as a heterogeneous and well-connected land matrix. HANPP results show how dry pastures are affected by human pressure, while the results for Le indicate how human activities are affecting ecological corridors linking the northern and the southern parts of the study area. Finally, IDC results show that intermediate disturbance can have a positive effect on the provision of human needs and, at the same time, can help maintain the landscape's ecological functionality. The analysis confirms that land use policies should consider the landscape as a whole and should avoid applying a string of ad hoc decisions to minor pieces of the territory. Our findings support the view that a strong relationship between intermediate disturbance and landscape complexity exists, which highlights the importance of traditional economic activities as ways of maintaining biocultural landscapes.

Embodied HANPP of feed and animal products: Tracing pressure on ecosystems along trilateral livestock supply chains 1986–2013

The global livestock system puts increasing pressures on ecosystems. Studies analyzing the ecological impacts of livestock supply chains often explain this pressure by the increasing demand for animal products. Food regime theory proposes a more nuanced perspective: it explains livestock-related pressures on ecosystems by systemic changes along the supply chains of feed and animal products, notably the liberalization of agricultural trade. This study proposes a framework supporting empirical analyses of such claims by differentiating several steps of livestock supply chains. We reconstructed “trilateral” livestock supply chains linking feed production, livestock farming, and final consumption, based on the global flows of 161 feed and 13 animal products between 222 countries from 1986 to 2013. We used the embodied Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (eHANPP) indicator to quantify pressures on ecosystems linked to these trilateral livestock supply chains. We find that livestock induced 65 % of agriculture's pressure on ecosystems, mostly through cattle grazing. Between 1986 and 2013, the fraction of livestock-related eHANPP that was traded internationally doubled from 7.1 % to 15.6 %. eHANPP related to the trade of feed was mostly linked to soybean imported for pig meat production, whereas eHANPP associated to traded animal products was mostly linked to cattle meat. eHANPP of traded animal products was lower but increased faster than eHANPP of feed trade. eHANPP was highest at the feed production level in South and North America, and at the consumption level in Eastern Asia. In Northern Asia and Eastern Europe, eHANPP was lowest at the animal products production level. In Western Europe, the eHANPP was equal at the animal products production and consumption levels. Our findings suggest that options to reduce livestock's pressures on ecosystems exist at all levels of the supply chain, especially by reducing the production and consumption in high-consuming countries and regulating international supply chains.