Publication Date:
2001-04-17
Description:
During the next 50 years, which is likely to be the final period of rapid agricultural expansion, demand for food by a wealthier and 50% larger global population will be a major driver of global environmental change. Should past dependences of the global environmental impacts of agriculture on human population and consumption continue, 10(9) hectares of natural ecosystems would be converted to agriculture by 2050. This would be accompanied by 2.4- to 2.7-fold increases in nitrogen- and phosphorus-driven eutrophication of terrestrial, freshwater, and near-shore marine ecosystems, and comparable increases in pesticide use. This eutrophication and habitat destruction would cause unprecedented ecosystem simplification, loss of ecosystem services, and species extinctions. Significant scientific advances and regulatory, technological, and policy changes are needed to control the environmental impacts of agricultural expansion.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tilman, D -- Fargione, J -- Wolff, B -- D'Antonio, C -- Dobson, A -- Howarth, R -- Schindler, D -- Schlesinger, W H -- Simberloff, D -- Swackhamer, D -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2001 Apr 13;292(5515):281-4.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA. tilman@lter.umn.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11303102" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
*Agriculture
;
*Ecosystem
;
*Environment
;
Eutrophication
;
Fertilizers
;
Forecasting
;
Fresh Water
;
Nitrogen
;
Pesticides
;
Phosphorus
;
Regression Analysis
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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