Document Type

Article

Author ORCID Identifier

Kat F. Fowler https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2771-2363

Christopher Lant https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0416-1974

Journal/Book Title

Land

Publisher

MDPI AG

Publication Date

5-15-2026

Journal Article Version

Version of Record

Volume

15

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Issue

5

First Page

1

Last Page

25

Abstract

The concepts of anthromes and human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) are both valuable in understanding our human-dominated planet, yet they have never been integrated theoretically or empirically. Here we utilize an extensive county-level dataset on HANPP and its product-level components to derive, through cluster analysis, ten contemporary US anthromes. From highest to lowest density of harvested HANPP, the anthromes are: rainfed corn–soy, dairy fodder, spring wheat–small grain, dryland winter wheat, subtropical soy–cotton, commercial timber, mixed hardwood and pasture, recovered eastern forest, prairie–sagebrush rangeland, and arid and alpine sparse grazing. Expanding to thirteen anthromes maintains these, while bifurcating the commercial timber (softwood, hardwood), rainfed corn–soy (core, fringe) and mixed hardwood and pasture anthromes. Trend analysis shows the expansion of the high-HANPP rainfed corn–soy and the low-HANPP recovered eastern forest anthromes between 2002 and 2017, while some other anthromes with moderate HANNPharvest are contracting. The methods described here can be applied to any country where data on HANPP can be obtained.

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