Date of Award:

12-2022

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Environment and Society

Department name when degree awarded

Environment & Society

Committee Chair(s)

Christopher Lant

Committee

Christopher Lant

Committee

Mark Brunson

Committee

Layne Coppock

Committee

Benjamin Ruddell

Committee

Richard Rushforth

Abstract

This dissertation conducts a county-level analysis of human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) harvested from crops, timber and grazing in the conterminous United States in the years 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2012. This study consists of three manuscripts (Chapters 2, 3, and 4). The first study quantifies net primary production in US counties in 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2012. The detailed HANPP study conducted concludes that HANPP is a valuable footprint tool for analyzing land use intensity and agricultural ecosystems. The second manuscript shows how HANPP is an improved or modernized ecological footprint and is a sustainable indicator as it is able to inform different sustainability narratives at different scales (planet, countries, counties, and 30m pixels). This study also provides insights to improve the agroecosystems of the U.S. and generates an integrated picture of the socioecological condition of the land system. The third manuscript analyzes the uses of biomass production, measured as human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP), in the U.S. from 1997 to 2012 at a national level and for 2012 at a state level. It shows how proportions of HANPP allocated to food, feed, fiber, fuel, and exports are distributed geographically in the 48 contiguous states.

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