Human Population

This volume uses the dynamics of the demographic and geographic distributions of humans to explore biological diversity. It evaluates relationships between human settlement and the population dynamics of both native and non-native species.

In this volume the dynamic patterns of human density and distribution are examined in relation to the viability of native species and the integrity of their habitats. Social, biological, and earth scientists describe their models, outline their conclusions from field studies, and review the contributions of other scientists whose work is essential to this field. The book starts with general theories and broad empirical relationships that help explain dramatic changes in the patterns of the occurrence of species, changes that have developed in parallel with human population growth, migration and settlement. In the following chapters specific biomes and ecosystems are highlighted as the context for human interactions with other species. A discussion of the key themes and findings covered rounds out the volume. All in all, the work presents our species, Homo sapiens, as what we truly have been and will likely remain—an influential, and often the most influential, constituent in nearly every major ecosystem on Earth.

An Introduction: Human Population’s Influences on Biological Diversity.- Mapping the Population Future: Projecting a Gridded Population of the World Using Ratio Methods of Trend Extrapolation.- Physical Environment and the Spatial Distribution of Human Population.- Behavioral Mediators of the Human Population Effect on Global Biodiversity Losses.- The Biological Diversity that is Humanly Possible: Three Models Relevant to Human Population’s Relationship with Native .- Biodiversity on the Urban Landscape.- Indicators for Assessing Threats to Freshwater Biodiversity from Humans and Human-shaped Landscapes.- A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Human Impacts on the Rainforest Environment in Ecuador: Preliminary Results from the Ethnographic Study.- Human Demography and Conservation in the Apache Highlands Ecoregion, United States-Mexico Borderlands.- Long-term Ecological Effects of Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors in Wolong Nature Reserve (China).- Exploring the Association between People and Deforestation in Madagascar.- A Coupled Natural and Human Systems Approach Towards Biodiversity: Reflections from Social Scientists.