Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) was first studied by Vitousek and others in the 1980s. HANPP is a substantial improvement upon 20th-century attempts at developing an ecological footprint indicator because of its measurability concerning net primary production, its close relationship to other key footprint measures, such as carbon and water, and its spatial specificity. This research is focused on quantifying and analyzing HANPP harvested, used, unused, above and below ground associated with the three-primary means through which humans harvest net primary productivity (NPP) namely crop production, timber cutting, and livestock grazing at the county level of the US from the year 1997 to 2012. From these measures we calculate NPP harvested and NPP ecological downscaled to 30 meters. This study will generate the first analysis of the geographic distribution of HANPP components, including HANPP harvest among the counties in the conterminous U.S. revealing changes in HANPP harvest from 1997 to 2012 and comparing HANPP harvest with other countries where HANPP had been studied. This research will provide several insights to improve the agroecosystems of the U.S. and will generate an integrated picture of the socioecological condition in the land system and also analyze the change in the biogeochemical environment. Depending upon the scales HANPP indicates the degree to which meeting the needs of the domestic population for provisioning ecosystem services presses against the domestic ecological endowment of net primary production. HANPP reveals the dependency of metropolitan areas upon rural forestry and agroecosystems, through trade and transport teleconnection. It provides the basis for deriving spatial patterns of the remaining NPP upon which biodiversity and ecosystem services are dependent. HANPP is thus informing sustainability narratives and is a sustainability indicator that can fulfill similar needs as carbon, water, and other footprints.
Suman Paudel is a Ph.D. candidate (Research Assistant) in the program Environment and Society at Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University. He is working with Professor Dr. Christopher Lant in the NSF-funded huge data fusion project called INFEWS/FEWSION - Innovations at Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water System. He is carrying out the human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) analysis at the county level of the US as well as at the 30m scale resolution through quantification and mapping of HANPP components. His research interest includes a human appropriation of net primary production, ecosystem services, natural resource, and environment management, conservation, and sustainability, ecological footprints, agriculture, biodiversity, and climate change.
Christopher Lant
Gustavo Ovando-Montejo
Kaeli Mueller