Human Impacts on Nearshore Shellfish Taxa: A 7,000 Year Record from Santa Rosa Island, California

2007 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd J. Braje ◽  
Douglas J. Kennett ◽  
Jon M. Erlandson ◽  
Brendan J. Culleton
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Ecology ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Sociopolitical Complexity ◽  
Intensive Exploitation ◽  
Nearshore Ecosystems ◽  
Human Predation ◽  
Santa Rosa Island

Within the broad framework of historical and behavioral ecology, we analyzed faunal remains from a large habitation site (CA-SRI-147) on Santa Rosa Island to explore a 7,000 year record of coastal subsistence, nearshore ecological dynamics, and human impacts on shellfish populations. This long, stratified sequence provides a rare opportunity to study the effects of prolonged human predation on local intertidal and nearshore habitats. During the past 7,000 years, the Island Chumash and their predecessors had significant impacts on nearshore ecosystems, caused by growing human populations and depletion of marine and terrestrial ecosystems. At CA-SRI-147, local depletion of higher ranked shellfish species stimulated dietary expansion and a heavier reliance on lower-ranked shellfish taxa and more intensive exploitation of nearshore and pelagic fishes. In the Late Holocene, as local ecosystems were increasingly depleted, the Island Chumash relied increasingly on craft specialization and trade to meet their subsistence needs. Native peoples clearly impacted Channel Island ecosystems, but data from CA-SRI-147 suggest that they adjusted their subsistence strategies toward productive fisheries that sustained the high population densities and sociopolitical complexity recorded by early Spanish chroniclers at European contact.

scholarly journals Human impacts and Anthropocene environmental change at Lake Kutubu, a Ramsar wetland in Papua New Guinea

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (40) ◽  
pp. e2022216118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsie E. Long ◽  
Larissa Schneider ◽  
Simon E. Connor ◽  
Niamh Shulmeister ◽  
Janet Finn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mineral Resource ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Wetland Management ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Ecosystem Dynamics ◽  
Resource Extraction ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Ramsar Wetland

The impacts of human-induced environmental change that characterize the Anthropocene are not felt equally across the globe. In the tropics, the potential for the sudden collapse of ecosystems in response to multiple interacting pressures has been of increasing concern in ecological and conservation research. The tropical ecosystems of Papua New Guinea are areas of diverse rainforest flora and fauna, inhabited by human populations that are equally diverse, both culturally and linguistically. These people and the ecosystems they rely on are being put under increasing pressure from mineral resource extraction, population growth, land clearing, invasive species, and novel pollutants. This study details the last ∼90 y of impacts on ecosystem dynamics in one of the most biologically diverse, yet poorly understood, tropical wetland ecosystems of the region. The lake is listed as a Ramsar wetland of international importance, yet, since initial European contact in the 1930s and the opening of mineral resource extraction facilities in the 1990s, there has been a dramatic increase in deforestation and an influx of people to the area. Using multiproxy paleoenvironmental records from lake sediments, we show how these anthropogenic impacts have transformed Lake Kutubu. The recent collapse of algal communities represents an ecological tipping point that is likely to have ongoing repercussions for this important wetland’s ecosystems. We argue that the incorporation of an adequate historical perspective into models for wetland management and conservation is critical in understanding how to mitigate the impacts of ecological catastrophes such as biodiversity loss.

Sustainability in Arid Grasslands: New Technology Applications for Management

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas K. Budge ◽  
Arian Pregenzer
Keyword(s):  
Human Impacts ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Resource Sustainability ◽  
Technology Applications ◽  
Species Abundances ◽  
Ecosystem Studies ◽  
Grazing Systems ◽  
Arid Grasslands

As biodiversity, ecosystem function, and ecosystem services become more closely linked with human well-being at all scales, the study of ecology takes on increasing social, economic, and political importance. However, when compared with other disciplines long linked with human well-being, such as medicine, chemistry, and physics, the technical tools and instruments of the ecologist have generally lagged behind those of the others. This disparity is beginning to be overcome with the increasing use of biotelemetric techniques, microtechnologies, satellite and airborne imagery, geographic information systems (GIS), and both regional and global data networks. We believe that the value and efficiency of ecosystem studies can advance significantly with more widespread use of existing technologies, and with the adaptation of technologies currently used in other disciplines to ecosystem studies. More importantly, the broader use of these technologies is critical for contributing to the preservation of biodiversity and the development of sustainable natural resource use by humans. The concept of human management of biodiversity and natural systems is a contentious one. However, we assert that as human population and resource consumption continue to increase, biodiversity and resource sustainability will only be preserved by increasing management efforts—if not of the biodiversity and resources themselves, then of human impacts on them. The technologies described in this chapter will help enable better management efforts. In this context, biodiversity refers not only to numbers of species (i.e., richness) in an arbitrarily defined area, but also to species abundances within that area. Sustainability refers to the maintenance of natural systems, biodiversity, and resources for the benefit of future generations. Arid-land grazing systems support human social systems and economies in regions all over the world, and can be expected to play increasingly critical roles as human populations increase. Further, grazing systems represent a nexus of natural and domesticated systems. In these systems, native biodiversity exists side by side with introduced species and populations, and in fact can benefit from them.

In Pursuit of Mobile Prey: Martu Hunting Strategies and Archaeofaunal Interpretation

2009 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas W. Bird ◽  
Rebecca Bliege Bird ◽  
Brian F. Codding
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Behavioral Ecology ◽  
Western Desert ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Dynamic Interactions ◽  
Resource Sustainability ◽  
Hunting Strategies ◽  
Proxy Measure ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Prey Mobility

By integrating foraging models developed in behavioral ecology with measures of variability in faunal remains, zooarchaeological studies have made important contributions toward understanding prehistoric resource use and the dynamic interactions between humans and their prey. However, where archaeological studies are unable to quantify the costs and benefits associated with prey acquisition, they often rely on proxy measures such as prey body size, assuming it to be positively correlated with return rate. To examine this hypothesis, we analyze the results of 1,347 adult foraging bouts and 649 focal follows of contemporary Martu foragers in Australia's Western Desert. The data show that prey mobility is highly correlated with prey body size and is inversely related to pursuit success—meaning that prey body size is often an inappropriate proxy measure of prey rank. This has broad implications for future studies that rely on taxonomic measures of prey abundance to examine prehistoric human ecology, including but not limited to economic intensification, socioeconomic complexity, resource sustainability, and overexploitation.

scholarly journals Sources, impacts and trends of pharmaceuticals in the marine and coastal environment

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1656) ◽  
pp. 20130572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Gaw ◽  
Kevin V. Thomas ◽  
Thomas H. Hutchinson
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Coastal Environment ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Coastal Environments ◽  
Veterinary Pharmaceuticals ◽  
Critical Knowledge ◽  
Coastal Aquaculture

There has been a significant investment in research to define exposures and potential hazards of pharmaceuticals in freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. A substantial number of integrated environmental risk assessments have been developed in Europe, North America and many other regions for these situations. In contrast, comparatively few empirical studies have been conducted for human and veterinary pharmaceuticals that are likely to enter coastal and marine ecosystems. This is a critical knowledge gap given the significant increase in coastal human populations around the globe and the growth of coastal megacities, together with the increasing importance of coastal aquaculture around the world. There is increasing evidence that pharmaceuticals are present and are impacting on marine and coastal environments. This paper reviews the sources, impacts and concentrations of pharmaceuticals in marine and coastal environments to identify knowledge gaps and suggests focused case studies as a priority for future research.

scholarly journals Impacts of biodiversity and biodiversity loss on zoonotic diseases

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (17) ◽  
pp. e2023540118
Author(s):  
Felicia Keesing ◽  
Richard S. Ostfeld
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Zoonotic Diseases ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Zoonotic Pathogens ◽  
New Synthesis ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Opposing Effects

Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases of humans caused by pathogens that are shared between humans and other vertebrate animals. Previously, pristine natural areas with high biodiversity were seen as likely sources of new zoonotic pathogens, suggesting that biodiversity could have negative impacts on human health. At the same time, biodiversity has been recognized as potentially benefiting human health by reducing the transmission of some pathogens that have already established themselves in human populations. These apparently opposing effects of biodiversity in human health may now be reconcilable. Recent research demonstrates that some taxa are much more likely to be zoonotic hosts than others are, and that these animals often proliferate in human-dominated landscapes, increasing the likelihood of spillover. In less-disturbed areas, however, these zoonotic reservoir hosts are less abundant and nonreservoirs predominate. Thus, biodiversity loss appears to increase the risk of human exposure to both new and established zoonotic pathogens. This new synthesis of the effects of biodiversity on zoonotic diseases presents an opportunity to articulate the next generation of research questions that can inform management and policy. Future studies should focus on collecting and analyzing data on the diversity, abundance, and capacity to transmit of the taxa that actually share zoonotic pathogens with us. To predict and prevent future epidemics, researchers should also focus on how these metrics change in response to human impacts on the environment, and how human behaviors can mitigate these effects. Restoration of biodiversity is an important frontier in the management of zoonotic disease risk.

African Biomes

Ecology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony R.E. Sinclair ◽  
Rene L. Beyers
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
National Park ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Ecosystem Dynamics ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
North West ◽  
The Past

Africa has a great diversity of environmental conditions. It is bisected by the equator so that the seasons are six months out of phase north and south of it. There are tropical forests on the west side as well as in the center of the continent. In roughly concentric rings out from the forest, there are progressively drier vegetation types from woodland, savanna, and grassland to desert. There are several major rivers flowing north, west, and east. Africa has also been the center of evolution of many large mammal groups. It has a high diversity of birds and insects. It is also the origin of the human species, and humans have influenced and modified the landscape for hundreds of thousands of years. Humans evolved there over the past four million years. The environment and the biomes that result from it in turn shaped the evolution of humans. Over the Pleistocene (past two million years), the environment swung from warm and wet to cool and dry several times, and consequently the biomes changed in extent from continuous forest (that stretched from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean) to dry savanna and desert with only small patches of forest in West and Central Africa. These changes that were connected to the ice ages of temperate regions affected human populations. In the past millennium, human numbers have increased and migrations have moved peoples southward through the forests of Central Africa and into eastern and southern Africa. These movements have modified the biomes through grazing pressures on grasslands and agriculture in savanna. In the 20th century, forests were modified through deforestation. Wildlife conservation and ecotourism are prominent in Africa. There are several large protected areas especially in eastern and southern savanna Africa, with some less-known areas of forest reserves. Scientific studies on these protected areas over several decades describe the biology and ecosystem dynamics perhaps better than any other continent. There are scientific syntheses on the Kruger National Park, South Africa, and the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Both highlight how the whole ecosystem changes over time with climate change, human population increases, disease outbreaks, and other disturbances. The following sections first cover the vegetation types that are called Biomes; two abiotic environmental factors, climate and fire (Climate Variability and Patterns of Drought and Fire); prominent animal groups characteristic of Africa (Large Mammals, Primates, and Birds); dominant processes such as herbivory, predation, niche partitioning, facilitation, and migration (Herbivory, Predators and Predation, Niche Partitioning, Facilitation, and Migrations); and finally the expansion of human impacts on biomes and the related aspects of traditional livelihoods and conservation (Traditional Human Livelihoods and Conservation). Social and political history also modify human impacts but are not covered in this review.

Community organization: effects of landscape fragmentation

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (12) ◽  
pp. 2687-2690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L. Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Community Organization ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Landscape Fragmentation ◽  
Physical Factors ◽  
Natural Area ◽  
Ecosystem Integrity ◽  
Theory Of Island Biogeography ◽  
Future Work

All over the world, natural terrestrial ecosystems have been subjected to a wide variety of human impacts. Most noticeable are activities and processes associated with agriculture, forestry, mining, and urban development. Results range from virtual obliterations of natural communities through varying degrees of fragmentation to a series of preserves and natural areas. Studies of many taxa, both plant and animal, indicate numerous effects associated with the loss of contiguity, reduction in total area, relationship to physical factors, and increasing separation of remaining fragments. The theory of island biogeography has been tested in many kinds of landscapes and for many groups of organisms. The great differences between true islands and terrestrial "habitat islands" lead to inconclusive results in many investigations and to major questions concerning the applicability of the equilibrium model to fragmented terrestrial landscapes. This paper attempts to summarize indicative examples that have a bearing on community structure and organization and to present some ideas for future work in landscape management and its relation to species diversity, natural area preservation, and continued ecosystem integrity, viability, stability, and vitality.

scholarly journals Linking zooplankton assemblages with oceanographic zones in an Atlantic coastal ecosystem

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (6) ◽  
pp. 868-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan J. Debertin ◽  
J. Mark Hanson ◽  
Simon C. Courtenay
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Bottom Water Temperature ◽  
Surface Water Salinity ◽  
State Of The Environment ◽  
Atlantic Coastal

Shallow (5–35 m depth) coastal waters, with their proximity to human populations, are likely to experience greater changes to ecosystem structure and functions from climate change and human impacts than offshore waters. Concerns of declining fisheries landings and deteriorating habitat quality in Northumberland Strait led to an assessment by Fisheries and Oceans Canada of the state of the environment and biota including zooplankton during the summer. In this paper we describe spatial structure of zooplankton (three distinct assemblages) and determined that two oceanographic zones can explain the spatial variation. Using distance-based linear models, bottom water temperature and surface water salinity explained 16% to 25% of the variation in zooplankton composition for each year of the survey. We used retrospective analyses to estimate what the zooplankton assemblage may have resembled in the early 1990s from data of oceanographic conditions. Given the prediction of warming oceans by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we provide a means of predicting zooplankton composition and their distribution, with implications for the planktivorous fishes that prey upon them.

scholarly journals Seaduck engineers in the Arctic Archipelago: nesting eiders deliver marine nutrients and transform the chemistry of island soils, plants, and ponds

Oecologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 195 (4) ◽  
pp. 1041-1052
Author(s):  
N. Clyde ◽  
K. E. Hargan ◽  
M. R. Forbes ◽  
S. A. Iverson ◽  
J. M. Blais ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Impacts ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Somateria Mollissima ◽  
Nutrient Inputs ◽  
Arctic Ecosystems ◽  
Coastal Marine ◽  
Common Eiders ◽  
Pond Sediments ◽  
Circumpolar Arctic

AbstractSeabirds are thought to provide ecological services such as the movement of nutrients between marine and terrestrial ecosystems, which may be especially critical to productivity and diversity in nutrient-poor environments. Most Arctic ecosystems are unaffected by local human impacts and are naturally nutrient poor and especially sensitive to warming. Here, we assessed the effects of nesting common eider ducks (Somateria mollissima) on soil, vegetation, and pond sediments on island archipelagoes in Hudson Strait between Nunavut and Québec, Canada. Soil, moss, and pond sediments were significantly higher in nitrogen on islands with large numbers of nesting eiders compared to sites with no nesting birds. The highest concentrations of nitrogen in soils and moss occurred at the margins of ponds on eider islands, which correspond to the areas of highest eider use. δ15N and δ34S values in soils, moss, and sediments indicated substantial marine-derived organic matter inputs at the higher nutrient sites. We propose that by foraging on coastal marine benthic invertebrates and returning to islands to nest, eider ducks bio-transport and concentrate marine-derived nutrients to their colony islands, fertilizing Arctic island ecosystems in the process. As common eiders nest on thousands of low to mid-latitude islands throughout the circumpolar Arctic, these nutrient inputs likely dramatically affect biota and ecosystem functioning throughout the tundra biome.

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