Land use and industrial modernization: an empirical analysis of human influence on the functioning of ecosystems in Austria 1830–1995

This paper discusses changes in the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems caused by land use. It presents an empirical analysis of changes in land use, agricultural productivity, and socio-economic biomass metabolism in Austria during the 19th and 20th centuries, related to the process of “industrial modernization”, i.e. the transition from a society relying entirely on solar energy to the industrial society of today based on fossil fuel use. The development of “human appropriation of net primary production” in connection with the changes in the socio-economic energy system are discussed for the period 1830–1995.