Biosphere-human feedbacks: a physical geography perspective

Abstract

Biogeography has many connections to people but fewer to human geography. Biogeography is connected to the four dimensions of anthropogenic global change, but most of this research is tied to land-use change. Biogeographers have studied several ways in which land use affects the patterns and dynamics of organisms, mostly in reference to remnants of habitat destruction, but the human dimensions of this relationship are more explicit in changing habitat quality. How biogeography affects land use is also studied, but research on topics such as ecosystem services needs more contributions from geographers. Feedbacks between people and the other organisms with which we live, with more fully linked models, are a general subject in which biogeographers can contribute to progress in the human dimensions of global change.

Keywords:

• biogeography
• global change
• habitat destruction
• land use
• remnants
• feedbacks