Three islands and an archipelago: reciprocal interactions between humans and island ecosystems in Polynesia

2007 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick V. Kirch
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Island Ecosystems ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Reciprocal Interactions ◽  
Sociopolitical Structures

ABSTRACTOceanic islands offer outstanding ‘model systems' for investigating long-term dynamics between human populations and their ecosystems. Whilst the state factors involved in human-environment dynamics on islands are often simpler than on continents, the same essential processes are involved. This paper applies a comparative approach to understanding the reciprocal interactions between a set of four Polynesian island cases (Tikopia, Mangaia, Mangareva, Hawaiian Islands), over time scales of between one and three thousand years (kyr). In all cases, the island ecosystems were colonised by Polynesian populations derived from the same ancestral culture, with similar socioeconomic patterns. However, the ecosystems vary significantly in scale, geologic age, and other characteristics. Comparing the historical trajectories of these human–environment dynamics, as revealed by archaeological and palaeoecological study, provides insights into the relative impact of humans on pristine island ecosystems, the influence of environment on ecosystem vulnerability, and the ways in which societies have modified their economies, sociopolitical structures, and other aspects of culture in response to long-term environmental changes.

scholarly journals Direct dating of Pleistocene stegodon from Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e1788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Louys ◽  
Gilbert J. Price ◽  
Sue O’Connor
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Island Population ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Uranium Series ◽  
Uranium Series Dating

Stegodons are a commonly recovered extinct proboscidean (elephants and allies) from the Pleistocene record of Southeast Asian oceanic islands. Estimates on when stegodons arrived on individual islands and the timings of their extinctions are poorly constrained due to few reported direct geochronological analyses of their remains. Here we report on uranium-series dating of a stegodon tusk recovered from the Ainaro Gravels of Timor. The six dates obtained indicate the local presence of stegodons in Timor at or before 130 ka, significantly pre-dating the earliest evidence of humans on the island. On the basis of current data, we find no evidence for significant environmental changes or the presence of modern humans in the region during that time. Thus, we do not consider either of these factors to have contributed significantly to their extinction. In the absence of these, we propose that their extinction was possibly the result of long-term demographic and genetic declines associated with an isolated island population.

scholarly journals The History of Pastoral Activities in S Italy Inferred from Palynology: A Long-Term Perspective to Support Biodiversity Awareness

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Assunta Florenzano
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Coprophilous Fungi ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Mediterranean Habitats ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
The Impact

The present-day Mediterranean landscape is a result of the long-term human–environment–climate interactions that have driven the ecological dynamics throughout the Holocene. Pastoralism had (and still has) an important role in shaping this landscape, and contributes to maintaining the mosaic patterns of the Mediterranean habitats. Palaeoecological records provide significant multi-proxy data on environmental changes during the Holocene that are linked to human activities. In such research, the palynological approach is especially useful for detailing the complexity of anthropogenically-driven landscape transformations by discriminating past land uses and pastoral/breeding activities. This paper focuses on the palynological evidence for the impact of centuries of grazing on the vegetation of Basilicata, a region of southern Italy where animal breeding and pastoralism have a long tradition. A set of 121 pollen samples from eight archaeological sites (dated from the 6th century BC to the 15th century AD) and five modern surface soil samples were analyzed. The joint record of pollen pasture indicators and spores of coprophilous fungi suggests that continuous and intense pastoral activities have been practiced in the territory and have highly influenced its landscape. The palaeoecological results of this study provide us with better knowledge of the diachronical transformations of the habitats that were exposed to continuous grazing, with a shift toward more open vegetation and increase of sclerophyllous shrubs. The palynological approach gives insights into the vocation and environmental sustainability of this southern Italy region on a long-term basis.

scholarly journals Palaeoenvironmental perspectives for sustainable development in East Africa

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 963-1007 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Marchant ◽  
J. Finch ◽  
R. Kinyanjui ◽  
V. Muiruri ◽  
C. Mumbi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Co2 Concentration ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
East African

Abstract. East African ecosystems are shaped by long-term interaction with changing climate, human population, fire and wildlife. There remains today a strong connection between people and ecosystems, a relationship that is being strained by the rapidly developing and growing East African population, and their associated resource needs. Predicted climatic and atmospheric change will further impact on ecosystems culminating in a host of challenges for their management and sustainable development, further compounded by a backdrop of political, land tenure and economic constraints. Given the many direct and indirect benefits that ecosystems provide to surrounding human populations, understanding how they have changed over time and space deserves a special place on the ecosystem management agenda. Such a perspective can only be derived from a palaeoecology, particularly where there is high resolution, both through time and across space. The East African palaeoecological archive is reviewed, in particular to assess how it can meet this need. Although there remain crucial gaps, the number of palaeoecological archives from East Africa growing rapidly, some employing new and novel techniques to trace past ecosystem response to climate change. When compared to the archaeological record it is possible to disentangle human from climate change impacts, and how the former interacts with major environmental changes such as increased use of fire, changing herbivore densities and increased atmospheric CO2 concentration. With this multi-dimensional perspective of environmental change impacts it is imperative that our understanding of past human-ecosystem interactions are considered to impart effective long term management strategies; such an approach will enhance possibilities for a sustainable future for East African ecosystems and maximise the livelihoods of the populations that rely on them.

Environmental Archaeology at Mikindani, Tanzania: Towards a Historical Ecology of the Southern Swahili Coast

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Pawlowicz ◽  
John Stoetzel ◽  
Stephen Macko
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Historical Ecology ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Environmental Archaeology ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Anthropogenic Influences ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Swahili Coast

The historic port town of Mikindani is situated along the southern portion of the Swahili coast. Archaeological investigations in this region of coastal East Africa yield evidence of occupation since the last centuries BCE and intensive settlement since the middle of the first millennium CE. This long settlement history suggests that people in the region have had an expansive, wide-ranging impact on local ecological conditions in the region. This paper takes a historical ecology approach in evaluating the nature and degree of anthropogenic influences on the environment in and around Mikindani. The evaluation is based on evidence from contemporary botanical communities, faunal remains, macrobotanicals, phytolith residues, isotope analysis of archaeological sediments, and soil chemistry. This research also looks to define an environmental component that contributes to a previously defined mercantile culture that characterizes Swahili communities in the region. We argue that this interdisciplinary analysis yields evidence of several long-term anthropogenic influences in Mikindani, including: a long-term reduction in forests and woody vegetation, reliance on shifting agriculture as a subsistence strategy, and the continued reliance on marine resources to meet subsistence needs. These patterns of human-environment interaction help suggest reasons for certain developments in Mikindani’s history, perhaps most notably its early second millennium CE absence from Indian Ocean trade networks. Our results contribute to a growing literature in East Africa which acknowledges that modern environments of East Africa derive from a recursive relationship with human populations that has continued for thousands of years.

Designing a CRM Framework for online & offline sports footwear retailers

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Cueva ◽  
Guillem Rufian ◽  
Maria Gabriela Valdes
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Customer Relationship ◽  
Business Strategies ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Running Shoes ◽  
Brick And Mortar ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
On Line ◽  
The Impact

The use of Customer Relationship Managers to foster customers loyalty has become one of the most common business strategies in the past years.  However, CRM solutions do not fill the abundance of happily ever-after relationships that business needs, and each client’s perception is different in the buying process.  Therefore, the experience must be precise, in order to extend the loyalty period of a customer as much as possible. One of the economic sectors in which CRM’s have improved this experience is retailing, where the personalized attention to the customer is a key factor.  However, brick and mortar experiences are not enough to be aware in how environmental changes could affect the industry trends in the long term.  A base unified theoretical framework must be taken into consideration, in order to develop an adaptable model for constructing or implementing CRMs into companies. Thanks to this approximation, the information is complemented, and the outcome will increment the quality in any Marketing/Sales initiative. The goal of this article is to explore the different factors grouped by three main domains within the impact of service quality, from a consumer’s perspective, in both on-line and off-line retailing sector.  Secondly, we plan to go a step further and extract base guidelines about previous analysis for designing CRM’s solutions focused on the loyalty of the customers for a specific retailing sector and its product: Sports Running Shoes.

Determinants of Corporate Long-Term Capital Policy. Poland vs. France, Germany, and Great Britain: Comparative Approach and Panel Analysis

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waldemar Frackowiak ◽  
Sebastian Gryglewicz ◽  
Piotr Stobiecki ◽  
Maciej Stradomski ◽  
Adam Szyszka
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Panel Analysis

Past testate amoeba communities in landslide mountain fens (Polish Carpathians): The relationship between shell types and sediment

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362199464
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Marcisz ◽  
Krzysztof Buczek ◽  
Mariusz Gałka ◽  
Włodzimierz Margielewski ◽  
Matthieu Mulot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Testate Amoebae ◽  
Mineral Matter ◽  
Testate Amoeba ◽  
Run Off ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Depth To Water Table ◽  
Polish Carpathians ◽  
The Relationship

Landslide mountain fens formed in landslide depressions are dynamic environments as their development is disturbed by a number of factors, for example, landslides, slopewash, and surface run-off. These processes lead to the accumulation of mineral material and wood in peat. Disturbed peatlands are interesting archives of past environmental changes, but they may be challenging for providing biotic proxy-based quantitative reconstructions. Here we investigate long-term changes in testate amoeba communities from two landslide mountain fens – so far an overlooked habitat for testate amoeba investigations. Our results show that abundances of testate amoebae are extremely low in this type of peatlands, therefore not suitable for providing quantitative depth-to-water table reconstructions. However, frequent shifts of dominant testate amoeba species reflect dynamic lithological situation of the studied fens. We observed that high and stable mineral matter input into the peatlands was associated with high abundances of species producing agglutinated (xenosomic) as well as idiosomic shells which prevailed in the testate amoeba communities in both analyzed profiles. This is the first study that explores testate amoebae of landslide mountain fens in such detail, providing novel information about microbial communities of these ecosystems.

scholarly journals Phytolith and Calcitic Spherulite Indicators from Modern Reference Animal Dung from Mediterranean Island Ecosystems: Menorca, Balearic Islands

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 7202
Author(s):  
Marta Portillo ◽  
Kate Dudgeon ◽  
Montserrat Anglada ◽  
Damià Ramis ◽  
Yolanda Llergo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biosphere Reserve ◽  
Balearic Islands ◽  
Island Ecosystems ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Faecal Pellets ◽  
Fundamental Information ◽  
Animal Dung ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Mediterranean Island

This study illustrates the contribution of plant and faecal microfossil records to interdisciplinary approaches on the identification, composition, taphonomy and seasonality of livestock dung materials. The focus is on the taphonomy of opal phytoliths and calcitic dung spherulites embedded within modern faecal pellets collected from pasture grounds and pens from a range of animals, including cattle, sheep and pigs from three different farms and seasons of the year in Menorca (Balearic Islands, Spain) declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. Modern reference materials provide comparative plant and dung microfossil indicators on factors affecting the formation, composition, preservation and decay of animal faeces, as well as on the diverse environmental and anthropogenic aspects influencing these. The reported results show relevant changes in phytolith and spherulite composition according to animal species and age, livestock management, seasonality, and grazing and foddering regimes. Both microfossil records provide fundamental information on taphonomic issues that are understudied, such as the variation in the digestibility among different species, including under investigated animals such as pigs, as well on the seasonality of plant and faecal microfossils that are excreted with dung as an important material for reconstructing human-environment interactions which is commonly overlooked in archaeology.

scholarly journals Transformed Canine and Murine Mesenchymal Stem Cells as a Model for Sarcoma with Complex Genomics

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1126
Author(s):  
Natasja Franceschini ◽  
Bas Verbruggen ◽  
Marianna A. Tryfonidou ◽  
Alwine B. Kruisselbrink ◽  
Hans Baelde ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Copy Number ◽  
Point Mutations ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Cell Of Origin ◽  
Mesenchymal Tumors ◽  
Spontaneous Transformation ◽  
Exon 2 ◽  
Species Analysis ◽  
Gains And Losses

Sarcomas are rare mesenchymal tumors with a broad histological spectrum, but they can be divided into two groups based on molecular pathology: sarcomas with simple or complex genomics. Tumors with complex genomics can have aneuploidy and copy number gains and losses, which hampers the detection of early, initiating events in tumorigenesis. Often, no benign precursors are known, which is why good models are essential. The mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) is the presumed cell of origin of sarcoma. In this study, MSCs of murine and canine origin are used as a model to identify driver events for sarcomas with complex genomic alterations as they transform spontaneously after long-term culture. All transformed murine but not canine MSCs formed sarcomas after subcutaneous injection in mice. Using whole genome sequencing, spontaneously transformed murine and canine MSCs displayed a complex karyotype with aneuploidy, point mutations, structural variants, inter-chromosomal translocations, and copy number gains and losses. Cross-species analysis revealed that point mutations in Tp53/Trp53 are common in transformed murine and canine MSCs. Murine MSCs with a cre-recombinase induced deletion of exon 2-10 of Trp53 transformed earlier compared to wild-type murine MSCs, confirming the contribution of loss of p53 to spontaneous transformation. Our comparative approach using transformed murine and canine MSCs points to a crucial role for p53 loss in the formation of sarcomas with complex genomics.

scholarly journals Human–environment interactions at a short-lived Arctic mine and the long-term response of the local tundra vegetation

Polar Record ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frigga Kruse ◽  
Gary R. Nobles ◽  
Martha de Jong ◽  
Rosanne M. K. van Bodegom ◽  
G. J. M. (Gert) van Oortmerssen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Isotopic Analysis ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Habitat Creation ◽  
Waste Dumps ◽  
Threatened Plant Species ◽  
Visual Impact ◽  
Local Ecosystem

Abstract Arctic mining has a bad reputation because the extractive industry is often responsible for a suite of environmental problems. Yet, few studies explore the gap between untouched tundra and messy megaproject from a historical perspective. Our paper focuses on Advent City as a case study of the emergence of coal mining in Svalbard (Norway) coupled with the onset of mining-related environmental change. After short but intensive human activity (1904–1908), the ecosystem had a century to respond, and we observe a lasting impact on the flora in particular. With interdisciplinary contributions from historical archaeology, archaeozoology, archaeobotany and botany, supplemented by stable isotope analysis, we examine 1) which human activities initially asserted pressure on the Arctic environment, 2) whether the miners at Advent City were “eco-conscious,” for example whether they showed concern for the environment and 3) how the local ecosystem reacted after mine closure and site abandonment. Among the remains of typical mining infrastructure, we prioritised localities that revealed the subtleties of long-term anthropogenic impact. Significant pressure resulted from landscape modifications, the import of non-native animals and plants, hunting and fowling, and the indiscriminate disposal of waste material. Where it was possible to identify individual inhabitants, these shared an economic attitude of waste not, want not, but they did not hold the environment in high regard. Ground clearances, animal dung and waste dumps continue to have an effect after a hundred years. The anthropogenic interference with the fell field led to habitat creation, especially for vascular plants. The vegetation cover and biodiversity were high, but we recorded no exotic or threatened plant species. Impacted localities generally showed a reduction of the natural patchiness of plant communities, and highly eutrophic conditions were unsuitable for liverworts and lichens. Supplementary isotopic analysis of animal bones added data to the marine reservoir offset in Svalbard underlining the far-reaching potential of our multi-proxy approach. We conclude that although damaging human–environment interactions formerly took place at Advent City, these were limited and primarily left the visual impact of the ruins. The fell field is such a dynamic area that the subtle anthropogenic effects on the local tundra may soon be lost. The fauna and flora may not recover to what they were before the miners arrived, but they will continue to respond to new post-industrial circumstances.

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