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Is humanity sustainable?

Charles W Fowler1, Larry Hobbs

  • 1National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, 7600 Sand Point Way, NE, Seattle, WA 98115-6349, USA. charles.fowler@noaa.gov

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|January 20, 2004
PubMed
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Human ecological impact is not normal. Our species

Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Conservation Biology
  • Human Ecology

Background:

  • Ecological management principles necessitate systems operating within natural variation ranges for sustainability.
  • This principle applies across biological scales, from individuals to ecosystems, to prevent pathological conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the hypothesis that the human species is ecologically normal compared to other species.
  • To evaluate if human population size, CO2 production, energy use, and geographic range align with typical species' variations.

Main Methods:

  • Statistical comparison of human ecological parameters against confidence limits derived from data of other species.
  • Analysis of human population size, carbon dioxide production, energy consumption, biomass use, and geographic range.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • The hypothesis that humans are ecologically normal was rejected for nearly all tested parameters.
  • Human population size, CO2 production, energy use, biomass consumption, and geographic range are orders of magnitude larger than typical species.

Conclusions:

  • The human species deviates significantly from ecological norms observed in other species.
  • Further research is needed to explore other ecological measures and the implications of these human-driven differences.