Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, 2012-02-11
http://www.hzg.de/institute/coastal_research/structure/operational_systems/KOE/topics/topics/002162/index_0002162.html

Human-nature interaction

For early societies with subsistence based on hunting and gathering, the natural environment provided the necessary resources; at least since the advent of agriculture and pastoralism, however, humans have actively altered and shaped their environment. Today's society is seen as one of the main drivers of environmental change, both on local as well as on global scales.

The two-way relationship between changing environments and cultural changes is the subject of our research topic "human-nature interactions". We develop and operate the Global Land Use and technological Evolution Simulator (GLUES), an integrated model of socio-technological evolution in the context of changing climates.

Global Land Use and technological Evolution Simulator (GLUES)

GLUES model structure GLUES model structure

The Global Land Use and technological Evolution Simulator (GLUES) was developed by Wirtz and Lemmen (2003), based on earlier work by Lemmen (2001). GLUES resolves four quantitative measures for the developmental stage of Mesolithic (foraging) and Neolithic (pastoralists and farmers) communities.

The (1) number of actual agricultural economies, (2) the quota of farming in the society and (3) a technology index are coupled to (4) population density in the gradient adaptive dynamics framework (see Regulation Dynamics topic). The temporal evolution of each of the former three quantities is directed towards increasing growth success.

Sociocultural evolution is constrained by the bioclimatic background provided by paleovegetation models, and local disturbances derived from a global database of long-term high-resolution climate proxies (Wirtz et al. 2009).

  • Lemmen, C.(2001): Understanding the Regional Rise of Civilizations by Means of a Dynamic Model. Diplomarbeit, Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität, Oldenburg
  • Wirtz, K.W. and C. Lemmen (2003): A Global Dynamic Model for the Neolithic Transition. Climatic Change, 59 (3), 333-367
  • Wirtz, K.W., K. Bernhardt, G. Lohmann und C. Lemmen (2009): Mid-Holocene regional reorganization of climate variability. Clim. Past Discuss., 5, 287-326

Anthropogenic land cover change

Fraction of land allocated to crops (from Gaillard et al. 2010) Fraction of land allocated to crops (from Gaillard et al. 2010)

The changes from foraging to farming subsistence impacted natural ecosystems: foremost forested areas were converted to land for crops already 7000 years ago. Impact was greatest where technology and population density were high.

GLUES simulations reveal in which world regions agriculture changed the natural land cover first, and quantifies the associated emissions of carbon dioxide caused by deforestation and loss of soil carbon (Lemmen 2009).

Roughly 40 Gt of carbon have been cumulatively released by early agriculture between 11500 and 4000 years ago (Gaillard et al. 2010). For comparison, today's release from fossil fuel use is about 6 Gt per year.

  • Lemmen, C. (2009): World distribution of land cover changes during Pre- and Protohistoric Times and estimation of induced carbon releases. Géomorphologie : relief, processus, environnement, 4, 303-312
  • M.-J. Gaillard & C. Lemmen et al (2010): Holocene land-cover reconstructions for studies on land cover-climate feedbacks. Clim. Past, 6, 483-499

Topic information

Funding agencies

The human-nature interaction research topic is partly funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft priority program Interdynamik, and by the Pakistan Higher Education Commission program.

Group members active in this topic

Responsible scientist and contact

Lemmen

Carsten Lemmen

Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Geesthacht GmbH

Max-Planck-Straße 1, 21502 Geesthacht, Germany

Telefon: +49 4152 87-2013

Telefax: +49 4152 87-2020

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