This article discusses how biomes (grasslands, tropical rainforests, etc.) only exist at the discretion of the Earth’s population. For the past 10,000 years Earth’s inhabitants have lived during the Holocene era, a period following the retreat of ice from the last glaciation. Now, however, we have transitioned into the Anthropocene era. This era marks the beginning of humans having a significant impact on the ecosphere.

The article states:

nature is now embedded within a matrix of human-altered croplands, pastures, towns and cities. These anthropogenic biomes—”anthromes” for short—offer a fresh way of seeing our planetary pastiche. By combining data on land cover, land use and population density, researchers from the University of Maryland and McGill University have visually captured 21 anthromes, ranging from urban settlements and irrigated villages to remote deserts and other barren lands. Using this data, they zoomed into particular anthromes in seven countries, spanning six different continents, to show how human and natural landscapes have become one.

Anthromes: The Global Ecological Patterns Created By Humans