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Effects of human land-use on the global carbon cycle during the last 6,000 years

Olofsson, Jörgen LU and Hickler, Thomas LU (2008) In Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 17. p.605-615
Abstract
Humanity has become a major player within the Earth system, particularly by transforming large parts of the land surface and by altering the gaseous composition of the atmosphere. Deforestation for agricultural purposes started thousands of years ago and might have resulted in a detectable human influence on climate much earlier than the industrial revolution. This study presents a first attempt to estimate the impact of human land-use on the global carbon cycle over the last 6,000 years. A global gridded data set for the spread of permanent and non-permanent agriculture over this time period was developed and integrated within the Lund-Potsdam-Jena Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (LPJ-DGVM). The model was run with and without human... (More)
Humanity has become a major player within the Earth system, particularly by transforming large parts of the land surface and by altering the gaseous composition of the atmosphere. Deforestation for agricultural purposes started thousands of years ago and might have resulted in a detectable human influence on climate much earlier than the industrial revolution. This study presents a first attempt to estimate the impact of human land-use on the global carbon cycle over the last 6,000 years. A global gridded data set for the spread of permanent and non-permanent agriculture over this time period was developed and integrated within the Lund-Potsdam-Jena Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (LPJ-DGVM). The model was run with and without human land-use, and the difference in terrestrial carbon storage was calculated as an estimate of anthropogenic carbon release to the atmosphere. The modelled total carbon release during the industrial period (A.D. 1850–1990) was 148 gigatons of carbon (GtC), of which 33 GtC originated from non-permanent agriculture. For pre-industrial times (4000 B.C.–A.D. 1850), the net carbon release was 79 GtC from permanent agriculture with an additional 35 GtC from non-permanent agriculture. The modelled pre-industrial carbon release was considerably lower than would be required for a substantial influence on the climate system. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Human land-use, Carbon cycle, Deforestation, Dynamic global vegetation model (LPJ-DGVM), Agriculture, Holocene
in
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
volume
17
pages
605 - 615
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • wos:000258317500015
  • scopus:45749156007
ISSN
0939-6314
DOI
10.1007/s00334-007-0126-6
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0f2bee58-2352-470c-a4c9-706c02ff2e9c (old id 642366)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:55:38
date last changed
2022-03-29 23:31:30
@article{0f2bee58-2352-470c-a4c9-706c02ff2e9c,
  abstract     = {{Humanity has become a major player within the Earth system, particularly by transforming large parts of the land surface and by altering the gaseous composition of the atmosphere. Deforestation for agricultural purposes started thousands of years ago and might have resulted in a detectable human influence on climate much earlier than the industrial revolution. This study presents a first attempt to estimate the impact of human land-use on the global carbon cycle over the last 6,000 years. A global gridded data set for the spread of permanent and non-permanent agriculture over this time period was developed and integrated within the Lund-Potsdam-Jena Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (LPJ-DGVM). The model was run with and without human land-use, and the difference in terrestrial carbon storage was calculated as an estimate of anthropogenic carbon release to the atmosphere. The modelled total carbon release during the industrial period (A.D. 1850–1990) was 148 gigatons of carbon (GtC), of which 33 GtC originated from non-permanent agriculture. For pre-industrial times (4000 B.C.–A.D. 1850), the net carbon release was 79 GtC from permanent agriculture with an additional 35 GtC from non-permanent agriculture. The modelled pre-industrial carbon release was considerably lower than would be required for a substantial influence on the climate system.}},
  author       = {{Olofsson, Jörgen and Hickler, Thomas}},
  issn         = {{0939-6314}},
  keywords     = {{Human land-use; Carbon cycle; Deforestation; Dynamic global vegetation model (LPJ-DGVM); Agriculture; Holocene}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{605--615}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Vegetation History and Archaeobotany}},
  title        = {{Effects of human land-use on the global carbon cycle during the last 6,000 years}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00334-007-0126-6}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s00334-007-0126-6}},
  volume       = {{17}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}