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Anthropogenic Drivers Of Ecosystem Change: An Overview, Gerald C. Nelson, Elena Bennett, Asmeret A. Berhe, Kenneth G. Cassman, Ruth Defries, Thomas Dietz, Achim R. Dobermann, Andrew Dobson, Anthony Janetos, Marc Levy, Diana Marco, Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Brian O'Neill, Richard Norgaard, Gerhard Petschel-Held, Dennis Ojima, Prabhu Pingali, Robert Watson, Monika Zurek

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

This paper provides an overview of what the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) calls “indirect and direct drivers” of change in ecosystem services at a global level. The MA definition of a driver is any natural or human-induced factor that directly or indirectly causes a change in an ecosystem. A direct driver unequivocally influences ecosystem processes. An indirect driver operates more diffusely by altering one or more direct drivers. Global driving forces are categorized as demographic, economic, sociopolitical, cultural and religious, scientific and technological, and physical and biological. Drivers in all categories other than physical and biological are considered indirect. Important …