Historical Ecology and the Archaeology of Islands and Coastlines

Abstract

Abstract Historical ecology is the study of interactions between people, other organisms, and ecosystems in the past and how these perspectives can help understand present and future environmental conditions. Sitting at the interface of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, island and coastal regions are centers of biological diversity and have long been a focus of archaeological research. Island and coastal archaeology are deeply intertwined with historical ecology, often providing applications to conservation biology and restoration ecology. These include numerous interdisciplinary projects using diverse methodological toolkits to document long-term trends in species evaluations and reintroduction, invasions and translocations, landscape ecology and restoration, and climate change. In this time of dramatic environmental change and rapidly increasing human dominance of Earth’s ecosystems, archaeology and historical ecology are now more important than ever to bridge the gap between past ecosystem function and structure, present-day environmental challenges, collaboration with descendant and other stakeholder communities, and the persistence of biodiversity and human society in the future.