scholarly journals Tracking Hunter-Gatherer Impact on Vegetation in Last Interglacial and Holocene Europe: Proxies and Challenges

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Nikulina ◽  
Katharine MacDonald ◽  
Fulco Scherjon ◽  
Elena A. Pearce ◽  
Marco Davoli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Niche Construction ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
Published Evidence ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Modelling Studies ◽  
Population Sizes

AbstractWe review palaeoenvironmental proxies and combinations of these relevant for understanding hunter-gatherer niche construction activities in pre-agricultural Europe. Our approach consists of two steps: (1) identify the possible range of hunter-gatherer impacts on landscapes based on ethnographic studies; (2) evaluate proxies possibly reflecting these impacts for both the Eemian (Last Interglacial, Middle Palaeolithic) and the Early–Middle Holocene (Mesolithic). We found these paleoenvironmental proxies were not able to unequivocally establish clear-cut differences between specific anthropogenic, climatic and megafaunal impacts for either time period in this area. We discuss case studies for both periods and show that published evidence for Mesolithic manipulation of landscapes is based on the interpretation of comparable data as available for the Last Interglacial. If one applies the ‘Mesolithic’ interpretation schemes to the Neanderthal record, three common niche construction activities can be hypothesised: vegetation burning, plant manipulation and impact on animal species presence and abundance. Our review suggests that as strong a case can be made for a Neanderthal impact on landscapes as for anthropogenic landscape changes during the Mesolithic, even though the Neanderthal evidence comes from only one high-resolution site complex. Further research should include attempts (e.g. by means of modelling studies) to establish whether hunter-gatherer impact on landscapes played out at a local level only versus at a larger scale during both time periods, while we also need to obtain comparative data on the population sizes of Last Interglacial and Holocene hunter-gatherers, as these are usually inferred to have differed significantly.

Consequences of climatic change for distributions

2019 ◽  
pp. 165-184
Author(s):  
Brian Huntley
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Gene Flow ◽  
Species Distributions ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Adaptive Genetic Variation ◽  
Spatial Structuring ◽  
Modelling Studies ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Fossil Records

Species’ distributions, population sizes, and community composition are affected, directly and indirectly, by climatic changes, leading to changes in location, extent, and/or quality of distributions, range fragmentation or coalescence, and temporal discontinuities in suitable conditions. Quaternary fossil records document these responses, emphasizing individualism of species’ responses and impermanence of communities. Recent observations document similar changes attributable to recent climatic changes, including rapid decreases and increases in ranges and/or populations. Both also document extinctions associated with rapid climatic changes. Modelling studies predict substantial changes in species’ distributions, population sizes, and communities in response to future climatic changes. Implicit assumptions that genetic variation enabling adaptation is ubiquitous throughout species’ ranges, or that gene flow may be sufficiently rapid to allow adaptation, may be invalid. Work is needed to investigate spatial structuring of adaptive genetic variation and rates of gene flow, and to develop new models. Without this, species extinction risks may be severely underestimated.

scholarly journals Effect of controlled liming on the soil chemistry on the immission clear-cut

2006 ◽  
Vol 52 (Special Issue) ◽  
pp. S28-S34 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.V. Podrázský
Keyword(s):  
Soil Surface ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Soil Reaction ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Average Annual Temperature ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Altitudinal Zone ◽  
Future Potential

Results obtained during 14 years of the experiment are presented. Extreme site conditions are determined by: 8<sup>th</sup> vegetation altitudinal zone, podzolic soil and hard climate – average annual temperature 4°C, average annual precipitation around 1,200 mm. Effects of surface experimental liming were studied on immission clear-cuts in long time period, study area is located on the Velká Deštná locality on the main Orlické hory Mts. range. Research plots were established and the basic survey was done in spring of 1988, studies of liming effects were performed in the period 1987–2002. On particular plots, 0, 1,308, 2,826, 3,924 and 8,478 kg/ha of fine limestone (grain size under 1 mm) was distributed by hands on the soil surface, as an application of 3 and 9 t/ha of “fine” and “coarse” material (together 5 variants including the control one). Results are available for the forestry practice, research has to continue in the future – potential of negative liming impacts is topical here, consisting in humus mineralization and nutrients losses. Maximum effects on the soil reaction were observed in 8–10 years after limestone application at the soil surface (F – horizon) and in the period 10–15 years lower (H, A – horizons). Base saturation dynamics shows the time delay 2–4 years following pH values. For the site protection, efficient forest stands are vitally important of pioneer as well as climax species.

scholarly journals Dynamical Models for Infectious Diseases with Varying Population Size and Vaccinations

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peilin Shi ◽  
Lingzhen Dong
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Global Stability ◽  
Periodic Solutions ◽  
Dynamical Models ◽  
Bifurcation Theorem ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Variable Population ◽  
Disease Free ◽  
Varying Population

We formulate and discuss models for the spread of infectious diseases with variable population sizes and vaccinations on the susceptible individuals. First, we assume that the susceptible individuals are vaccinated continuously. We establish the threshold-like results for the existence and global stability of the disease-free and the endemic equilibriums for these systems. Especially, we prove the global stability of the endemic equilibriums by converting the systems into integrodifferential equations. Second, we suppose that vaccinations occur once per time period. We obtain the existence and global stability of the disease-free periodic solutions for such systems with impulsive effects. By a useful bifurcation theorem, we acquire the existence of the endemic periodic solutions when the disease-related deaths do not occur. At last, we compare the results with vaccinations and without vaccinations and illustrate our results by numerical simulations.

The Cyrenaican Prehistory Project 2009: the third season of investigations of the Haua Fteah cave and its landscape, and further results from the 2007–2008 fieldwork

2009 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 55-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graeme Barker ◽  
Annita Antoniadou ◽  
Huw Barton ◽  
Ian Brooks ◽  
Ian Candy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequence ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
The Third ◽  
Late Stone Age ◽  
Southern Side ◽  
Deep Sounding

AbstractThe paper reports on the third (2009) season of fieldwork of the Cyrenaican Prehistory Project, and on further results from the analysis of materials collected in the previous (2007 and 2008) fieldwork. Sediments in a 14 m-deep core drilled beside the McBurney trench provide an invaluable overview of the overall stratigraphic sequence, including at depths reached by the 1950s Deep Sounding but not yet investigated by the present project. Sampling of newly-exposed faces of the original excavation trench for dating (14C, ESR, OSL, U-series) and palaeoenvirommental indicators continued. Excavation was begun of sediments assigned to the early Holocene Libyco-Capsian (McBurney's Layer X), and of Pre-Aurignacian layers beside the top of the Deep Sounding. The Libyco-Capsian layers are particularly prolific in lithic debris, shells, and animal bones; preliminary analysis of the lithics suggests a development from Typical to Upper Capsian within the layers excavated in 2009. Geoarchaeological survey along the littoral to the west and east of the Haua Fteah identified complex sequences spanning most of the last interglacial-glacial cycle. Geoarchaeological survey south of the Haua Fteah characterized the major landforms of the Gebel Akhdar mountain and of the pre-desert and desert-edge zones further south, with Late Stone Age (Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic) material being found especially on the southern side of the Gebel Akhdar, and Middle Stone Age (Middle Palaeolithic) material in the pre-desert and desert regions. The first suite of 14C dates (from charcoal samples taken in 2007) indicates the use of the Haua Fteah by Oranian hunter-gatherers during the Last Glacial Maximum and in the succeeding millennia, but not in the Younger Dryas cold/dry phase (c. 11,000–10,000 cal. BC), with Libyco-Capsian occupation resuming soon after the beginning of the Holocene c. 9000 cal. BC, suggesting that the cave, and perhaps the Gebel Akhdar in general, have a complex history as refugia for human settlement during the Pleistocene.

scholarly journals A model-data comparison for a multi-model ensemble of early Eocene atmosphere-ocean simulations: EoMIP

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 1229-1273 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Lunt ◽  
T. Dunkley Jones ◽  
M. Heinemann ◽  
M. Huber ◽  
A. LeGrande ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lapse Rate ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Model Data ◽  
Data Comparison ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Modelling Studies ◽  
Balance Analysis ◽  
Co2 Level ◽  
Energy Balance Analysis ◽  
Model Variability

Abstract. The early Eocene (~55 to 50 Ma) is a time period which has been explored in a large number of modelling and data studies. Here, using an ensemble of previously published model results, making up "EoMIP" – the Eocene Modelling Intercomparison Project, and syntheses of early Eocene terrestrial and SST temperature data, we present a self-consistent inter-model and model-data comparison. This shows that the previous modelling studies exhibit a very wide inter-model variability, but that at high CO2, there is good agreement between models and data for this period, particularly if possible seasonal biases in some of the proxies are considered. An energy balance analysis explores the reasons for the differences between the model results, and suggests that differences in surface albedo feedbacks, water vapour and lapse rate feedbacks, and prescribed aerosol loading are the dominant cause for the different results seen in the models, rather than inconsistencies in other prescribed boundary conditions or differences in cloud feedbacks. The CO2 level which would give optimal early Eocene model-data agreement, based on those models which have carried out simulations with more than one CO2 level, is in the range 2000 ppmv to 6500 ppmv. Given the spread of model results, tighter bounds on proxy estimates of atmospheric CO2 during this time period will allow a quantitative assessment of the skill of the models at simulating warm climates, which could be used as a metric for weighting future climate predictions.

scholarly journals The local populations of the fungus Schizophyllum commune Fr. as drivers of its biodiversity

2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 308-316
Author(s):  
Sergiy Boiko
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Schizophyllum Commune ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Mantel Test ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Local Populations ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Nature Park ◽  
Degree Of Differentiation

Abstract Changes that occur on the local level can explain the processes on the population level and, at the same time, are the driving force of species adaptation. This manuscript reports data about genetic diversities of the fungus Schizophyllum commune on the level of a local population. Objects of the study were dicarious cultures of S. commune collected from 38 basidiocarps grown on the territory of Holosiivskyi National Nature Park, Lysa Hora Regional Landscape Park and Feofaniya forest parcel (Ukraine). Results showed similarity of genetic variability of S. commune in different local populations. The heterozygote deficiency of some loci that was discovered might have resulted from new forms of allozymes that have not become widespread or due to small population sizes. The degree of differentiation of genes between local studied populations was moderate due to the high flow of genes. The absence of spatial structuration of genotypes is established, and the Mantel test showed a lack of interconnection between the genetic component and the geographical coordinates of the samples. It has been suggested that wind direction and terrain are the factors that influence the genetic structure of local populations.

scholarly journals Collective narratives catalyse cooperation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaitanya Gokhale ◽  
Joseph Bulbulia ◽  
Marcus Frean
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Evolutionary Model ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
Finite Populations ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Moral Exemplars ◽  
Cultural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
Collective Narratives ◽  
Population Sizes

Humans invest in fantastic stories -- mythologies.Recent evolutionary theories suggest that cultural selection may favour moralising stories that motivate prosocial behaviours.A key challenge is to explain the emergence of mythologies that lack explicit moral exemplars or directives. Here, we resolve this puzzle with an evolutionary model in which arbitrary mythologies transform a collection of egoistic individuals into a cooperative. Importantly, in finite populations, reflecting relative to contemporary population sizes of hunter-gatherers, the model is robust to the cognitive costs in adopting fictions. This approach resolves a fundamental problem across the human sciences by explaining the evolution of otherwise puzzling amoral, nonsensical, and fictional narratives as exquisitely functional coordination devices.

Caring for Equality? Administering Ambivalence in Kindergarten

Sociologus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-55
Author(s):  
Anna Ellmer
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Difference ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
Institutional Resources

Abstract In recent years, kindergartens in Austria have increasingly become the target of an ambivalent politics of belonging and difference. Looking at institutional childcare practices as processes of doing and undoing differences, this article explores how kindergarten staff translate societal missions of promoting both &#x2018;integration&#x2019; and &#x2018;diversity&#x2019; into practice by reflecting particularly on the role of bureaucratic practices within this dynamic. Ethnographic studies on the organisational dimensions of institutional childcare have mostly focused on their normalising effects. Based on ethnographic material from two Viennese kindergartens, I show that universalist claims to childcare as a vehicle for belonging are important. Yet, care and administration in kindergarten hardly proceed in clear-cut ways. Pedagogical/bureaucratic practices unfold at the nexus of &#x2018;formal&#x2019; and &#x2018;informal&#x2019;, as well as &#x2018;private&#x2019; and &#x2018;public&#x2019; spheres, mediated by an ambivalent normative universe and within limited institutional resources. Using a case of staff negotiating kinship practices in one family, the article traces their interplay and shows how bureaucratic practices become entangled with gendered constructions of cultural difference. Keywords: Bureaucracy, childcare, kinship, doing difference, gender

Radiocarbon Dates and Stable Isotope Data from the Early Bronze Age Burials in Riigiküla I and Kivisaare Settlement Sites, Estonia

Radiocarbon ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Tõrv ◽  
John Meadows
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Agricultural Communities ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Freshwater Reservoir ◽  
Relationship Of

Four inhumations from Kivisaare and Riigiküla I settlement and burial sites were dated in the course of a project about hunter-gatherer mortuary practices in Estonia, as they were believed to belong to the Stone Age. However, these burials appear to be Early Bronze Age inhumations instead, and thus are discussed separately in the present article. These burials are the first evidence in Estonia of a long-lasting tradition of inhumations without any visible aboveground structures. As the archaeology of the Early Bronze Age in Estonia is poorly known, these four inhumations contribute immensely to our understanding about this time period. Moreover, stable isotope values show that these people had a more terrestrial subsistence strategy than Stone Age hunter-gatherers. Nevertheless, aquatic resources were probably still significant components of their diet, particularly at Kivisaare, and the radiocarbon dates could therefore be subject to significant freshwater reservoir effects. This creates ambiguity in the chronological relationship of these four individuals to burials in stone-cist graves, which are attributed to the Late Bronze Age and which appear to be associated with fully agricultural communities.

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