Anthropogenic Biomes

Introduction

Anthropogenic biomes, also known as "anthromes" or "human biomes", describe the terrestrial biosphere in its contemporary, human-altered form using global ecosystem units defined by patterns of sustained direct human interaction. Ellis and Ramankutty (2008) delineate 21 anthropogenic biomes based on population density, land use and vegetation cover. The anthropogenic biomes are grouped into six major categories -- dense settlements, villages, croplands, rangeland, forested and wildlands.

The Anthropogenic Biomes of the World, Version 1 data set describes globally-significant ecological patterns within the terrestrial biosphere caused by sustained direct human interaction with ecosystems, including agriculture, urbanization, forestry and other land uses circa 2001-2006.

Anthropogenic Biomes of the World, Version 2: 1700-2000 (Ellis et al 2010), describes historical transformations within the terrestrial biosphere caused by sustained direct human interaction with ecosystems, including agriculture and urbanization. Between 1700 and 2000, the terrestrial biosphere made the critical transition from mostly wild to mostly anthropogenic, passing the 50% mark early in the 20th century.  

Users can download each dataset as one global raster or as a raster for each of the 6 populated continents. The data are available in GeoTiff and Esri grid formats.