scholarly journals Historical ecology, human niche construction and landscape in pre-Columbian Amazonia: A case study of the geoglyph builders of Acre, Brazil

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 128-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Watling ◽  
Francis E. Mayle ◽  
Denise Schaan
Keyword(s):  
Historical Ecology ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Human Niche Construction

scholarly journals Historical Ecology of Scandinavian Infield Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 817
Author(s):  
Ove Eriksson ◽  
Matilda Arnell ◽  
Karl-Johan Lindholm
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Historical Ecology ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Land Reforms ◽  
Hay Meadows ◽  
Human Niche Construction ◽  
Major Transition ◽  
The 19Th Century

Infield systems originated during the early Iron Age and existed until the 19th century, although passing many transitions and changes. The core features of infield systems were enclosed infields with hay-meadows and crop fields, and unenclosed outland mainly used for livestock grazing. We examine the transitions and changes of domesticated landscapes with infield systems using the framework of human niche construction, focusing on reciprocal causation affecting change in both culture and environment. A first major transition occurred during the early Middle Ages, as a combined effect of a growing elite society and an increased availability of iron promoted expansion of villages with partly communal infields. A second major transition occurred during the 18th and 19th centuries, due to a then recognized inefficiency of agricultural production, leading to land reforms. In outlands, there was a continuous expansion of management throughout the whole period. Even though external factors had significant impacts as well, human niche construction affected a range of cultural and environmental features regarding the management and structure of domesticated landscapes with infield systems. Thus, niche construction theory is a useful framework for understanding the historical ecology of infield systems.

scholarly journals General patterns of niche construction and the management of ‘wild’ plant and animal resources by small-scale pre-industrial societies

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1566) ◽  
pp. 836-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce D. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Niche Construction ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Landscape Modification ◽  
Root Crops ◽  
Human Niche Construction ◽  
Human Management ◽  
Animal Resources ◽  
Industrial Societies

Niche construction efforts by small-scale human societies that involve ‘wild’ species of plants and animals are organized into a set of six general categories based on the shared characteristics of the target species and similar patterns of human management and manipulation: (i) general modification of vegetation communities, (ii) broadcast sowing of wild annuals, (iii) transplantation of perennial fruit-bearing species, (iv) in-place encouragement of economically important perennials, (v) transplantation and in-place encouragement of perennial root crops, and (vi) landscape modification to increase prey abundance in specific locations. Case study examples, mostly drawn from North America, are presented for each of the six general categories of human niche construction. These empirically documented categories of ecosystem engineering form the basis for a predictive model that outlines potential general principles and commonalities in how small-scale human societies worldwide have modified and manipulated their ‘natural’ landscapes throughout the Holocene.

scholarly journals Landscaping, Landscape Legacies, and Landesque Capital in Pre-Columbian Amazonia

2016 ◽  
pp. 90-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Arroyo-Kalin
Keyword(s):  
Historical Ecology ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
The Other ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Scientific Thinking ◽  
Niche Construction Theory ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Human Niche Construction ◽  
Landscape Transformations ◽  
Landscape Legacies

How do human and landscape histories reciprocally affect each other? Can we distinguish between deliberate and unintended anthropic transformations of the landscape? This chapter summarizes evidence from pre-Columbian Amazonia in order to discuss the relation between three dimensions of anthropic landscape transformations: landscaping, landscape legacies, and landesque capital. Conflation between these three categories can lead to theoretical road closures and certainly risks oversimplifying both causality and consequence when anthropic landscape modifications are considered. On the other hand, paying attention to their differences defines a rich field of research in which historical ecology, earth-scientific thinking, and human niche construction theory converge.

scholarly journals Addressing Sustainable Social Change for All: Upcycled-Based Social Creative Businesses for the Transformation of Socio-Technical Regimes

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 2527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Calvo ◽  
Andrés Morales ◽  
Pedro Núñez-Cacho Utrilla ◽  
José Manuel Guaita Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Grassroots Organizations ◽  
Global Challenges ◽  
Grassroots Innovations ◽  
Video Case Study

The global challenges caused by socio-economic inequalities, climate change and environmental damage caused to ecosystems, require changes in human behavior at all organizational levels, including companies, governments, communities, and individuals. In this context, it is important to analyse how social and creative companies that work in the fashion and industrial design recycling sector can address sustainable social change. In this paper, we propose an analysis in the countries of the global South. To learn how grassroots innovations can contribute to the development of sustainable strategies, we perform the framework of Technical transitions. We analyze the three main areas of activity that constitute an effective niche construction: social networks, expectations and visions, and learning. A qualitative methodology is used, a video case study with six grassroots organizations in South Africa, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Brazil. The results reflect the important role played by these grassroots innovations, contributing to the development of social and creative recycling companies that address socio-economic and environmental problems.

scholarly journals Human niche construction in interdisciplinary focus

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1566) ◽  
pp. 785-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Kendal ◽  
Jamshid J. Tehrani ◽  
John Odling-Smee
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Causal Process ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Selection Pressures ◽  
Ecological Inheritance ◽  
Human Niche Construction ◽  
The Social

Niche construction is an endogenous causal process in evolution, reciprocal to the causal process of natural selection. It works by adding ecological inheritance , comprising the inheritance of natural selection pressures previously modified by niche construction, to genetic inheritance in evolution. Human niche construction modifies selection pressures in environments in ways that affect both human evolution, and the evolution of other species. Human ecological inheritance is exceptionally potent because it includes the social transmission and inheritance of cultural knowledge, and material culture. Human genetic inheritance in combination with human cultural inheritance thus provides a basis for gene–culture coevolution, and multivariate dynamics in cultural evolution. Niche construction theory potentially integrates the biological and social aspects of the human sciences. We elaborate on these processes, and provide brief introductions to each of the papers published in this theme issue.

scholarly journals Human impacts on the environment and wildlife in California’s past: Lessons from California archaeology

2021 ◽  
Vol 107 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-319
Author(s):  
Julia Renee Prince-Buitenhuys ◽  
Colleen M. Cheverko ◽  
Eric J. Bartelink ◽  
Veronica Wunderlich ◽  
Kristina Crawford
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Wildlife Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Central California ◽  
European Contact ◽  
Human Niche Construction ◽  
Ecological Baselines

The long history of human-animal interactions in California prior to European contact is frequently not considered when setting ecological baselines and, by consequence, when planning conservation and management expectations and strategies for native species. This article reviews archaeological perspectives that explore the relationship between human niche construction, plant and wildlife populations, and human health in pre-European contact Central California, with an emphasis on the Central Valley and Delta, the surrounding foothills, and the San Francisco Bay Area. A summary of the archaeological record for Central California is provided, along with how niche construction and related evolutionary based models have been used in prehistoric California. Examples of the influences of human niche construction on flora, fauna, and human health from the archaeological and ethnographic record are then discussed. This information is tied to modern wildlife research and management practices that would serve contemporary fish and wildlife management given that human influences on species “natural” habitats and ecological baselines extends much further into the past than current ecological baselines and wildlife management strategies traditionally recognize.

Archaeology, Historical Ecology, and Marginality

2019 ◽  
pp. 273-294
Author(s):  
Scott M. Fitzpatrick ◽  
Jon M. Erlandson ◽  
Kristina M. Gill ◽  
Mikael Fauvelle ◽  
Jon M. Erlandson
Keyword(s):  
Historical Ecology ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Marine Resources ◽  
Human Settlement ◽  
Island Size ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Plant Foods ◽  
Marginal Environments ◽  
The World

The California Islands provide a case study that suggests that historical depictions of many islands as marginal environments for hunter-gatherers have been exaggerated by the ecological effects of the introduction of exotic plants and animals, historically or prehistorically. The perception of island marginality is traditionally based on variables ranging from island size to remoteness, isolation, and limited resources. Located near a continent, the California Islands are neither remote nor isolated, and they now appear to have been richer in plant foods, marine resources, minerals, fuel, and freshwater, than previously believed. We discuss these issues and explore the implications for other islands around the world where similar transformations have affected views about their marginality for human settlement and sustainability.

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