Anthropogenic Contexts Research Articles

Unifying Coral Reef States Through Space and Time Reveals a Changing Ecosystem

ABSTRACTAimEcological state shifts that alter the structure and function of entire ecosystems are a concerning consequence of human impact. Yet, when, where and why discrete ecological states emerge remains difficult to predict and monitor, especially in high‐diversity systems. We sought to quantify state shifts and their drivers through space and time in the most ecologically complex marine ecosystem: tropical coral reefs.LocationWorldwide.Time Period1987–2019.Major Taxa StudiedCoral reef communities.MethodsUsing a global dataset of 3375 coral reef surveys, along with 13 time series datasets ranging between 1987 and 2019, we applied a novel double‐dichotomy approach to classify coral reefs into four simplified and discrete states based on the relative contributions of corals versus algae to benthic cover and small‐bodied versus large‐bodied fishes to fish standing stock. We then examined state shifts considering a range of spatial predictors and tested whether states have shifted directionally over time, and the nature of the most common transitions.ResultsWe show that geographic, environmental and anthropogenic context fundamentally shapes coral reef states at the local scale, which explains disparities among case studies, and stakes out critical baseline expectations for regional management efforts. We also reveal clear multi‐decadal state shifts on coral reefs: over time, systems dominated by reef‐building corals and small‐bodied, planktivorous fishes tend to have been replaced with reefs characterised by algae and larger‐bodied fishes.Main ConclusionsOur results suggest a previously unrecognised transition from systems that harness external subsidies through small‐bodied consumers associated with structurally complex live corals, to herbivore‐dominated systems with stronger bottom‐up dynamics. Overall, the partitioning of complex reef ecosystems into a small suite of discrete ecological states suggests that spatial context‐dependency, shifting baselines and changes in reef functioning are crucial considerations for coral reef management in the 21st century.

The anthropocene biogeography of alien birds on islands: Drivers of their functional and phylogenetic diversities.

A branch of island biogeography has emerged to explain alien species diversity in the light of the biogeographic and anthropogenic context, yet overlooking the functional and phylogenetic facets. Evaluating alien and native birds of 407 oceanic islands worldwide, we built structural equation models to assess the direct and indirect influence of biotic, geographic, and anthropogenic contexts on alien functional diversity (FD) and phylogenetic diversity (PD). We found that alien taxonomic richness was the main predictor of both diversities. Anthropogenic factors, including colonization pressure, associated with classic biogeographical variables also strongly influenced alien FD and PD. Specifically, habitat modification and human connectivity markedly drove alien FD, especially when controlled by taxonomic richness, whereas the human population size, gross domestic product, and native PD were crucial at explaining alien PD. Our findings suggest that humans not only shape taxonomic richness but also other facets of alien diversity in a complex way.

Interactions with humans reduce the success of foraging for anthropogenic food by capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) in Brasília National Park, Brazil.

The progressive growth of urban environments has increasingly forced populations of nonhuman primates to coexist with humans in many cities, which has resulted in problems such as behavioral alterations, conflicts with humans, and threats to the health of the monkeys, due to their consumption of anthropogenic foodstuffs. These anthropogenic foods, which are rich in calories, are the principal driver of the proximity between humans and primates, even though the acquisition of these foods tends to be risky for the monkeys and involve a variety of challenges derived from specific features of the urban environment. The present study evaluated the success/risk relationship of foraging for anthropogenic food by tufted capuchins (Sapajus libidinosus) in Brasília National Park. The data were analyzed using a binary logistic regression, with the backward-stepwise Wald method, to investigate the factors related to the foraging success of the capuchins, considering variables such as their sex and age, the type of approach and its context, and interactions with humans. The capuchins were influenced by the anthropogenic context, which affected their foraging strategies and diet. Interactions with humans reduced the success of foraging for anthropogenic foods. Conflicts between humans and the capuchins were common, especially in the context of access to food. The capuchins thus preferred to access feeding resources directly, probably due to the reduced human interference, which resulted in greater foraging success for unattended food brought by park visitors and the raiding of trash cans. Based on the observed behavior patterns, a number of measures can be proposed to mitigate these conflicts. These recommendations include not bringing food into areas frequented by the capuchins, not reacting to approaching animals, and removing all trash generated during a visit. A cleaning team dedicated to the maintenance of the visitation area free of anthropogenic waste is also be recommended.

Taguatagua 3: A new late Pleistocene settlement in a highly suitable lacustrine habitat in central Chile (34°S).

We present the results of the excavations and analyses of the diverse and exceptional archaeological assemblage of Taguatagua 3, a new late Pleistocene site located in the ancient Tagua Tagua lake in Central Chile (34°S). The anthropogenic context is constrained in a coherently dated stratigraphic deposit which adds new information about the mobility, subsistence strategies, and settlement of the early hunter-gatherers of southern South America. The age model constructed, as well as radiocarbon dates obtained directly from a combustion structure, indicate that the human occupation occurred over a brief time span around 12,440-12,550 cal yr BP. Considering taphonomic, geoarchaeological, lithic, archaeobotanical, and zooarchaeological evidence, as well as the spatial distribution combined with ethnographic data, we interpret Taguatagua 3 as a logistic and temporary camp associated mainly with gomphothere hunting and butchering. Nevertheless, several other activities were carried out here as well, such as hide and/or bone preparation, small vertebrate and plant processing and consumption, and red ochre grinding. Botanical and eggshell remains suggest that the anthropic occupation occurred during the dry season. Considering the contemporaneous sites recorded in the basin, we conclude that the ancient Tagua Tagua lake was a key location along the region's early hunter-gatherer mobility circuits. In this context, it acted as a recurrent hunting/scavenging place during the Late Pleistocene due to its abundant, diverse, and predictable resources.

Trends of Eurasian Perch (Perca fluviatilis) mtDNA ATP6 Region Genetic Diversity within the Hydro-Systems of the Eastern Part of the Baltic Sea in the Anthropocene.

The intraspecific genetic diversity of freshwater fish inhabiting hydro-systems of the macrogeographic area spreading from the Black to Baltic Seas requires comprehensive investigation from fundamental and practical perspectives. The current study focused on the involvement of the mtDNA ATP6 region in the adaptability and microevolution of Perca fluviatilis within phylogeographic and anthropogenic contexts. We sequenced a 627 bp fragment encompassing the ATP6 region and used it for genetic analysis of 193 perch caught in Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine, representing natural and anthropogenically impacted populations. We evaluated patterns of intraspecific genetic diversity in the ATP6 region and phylogeographic trends within the studied area compared with previously established D-loop trends. Evaluation of ATP6 coding sequence variability revealed that among 13 newly detected haplotypes, only two were caused by non-synonymous substitutions of amino acids of the protein. PCoA revealed three genetic groups (I-III) based on the ATP6 region that encompassed four previously described genetic groups established based on the mtDNA D-loop. The two mtDNA regions (D-loop and ATP6) have microevolved at least partially independently. Prolonged anthropogenic impacts may generate new point mutations at the ATP6 locus, but this phenomenon could be mainly concealed by natural selection and reparation processes.

Freshwater and anadromous fishing in Ice Age Beringia.

While freshwater and anadromous fish have been critical economic resources for late prehistoric and modern Native Americans, the origin and development of fishing is not well understood. We document the earliest known human use of freshwater and anadromous fish in North America by 13,000 and 11,800 years ago, respectively, from primary anthropogenic contexts in central Alaska (eastern Beringia). Fish use appears conditioned by broad climatic factors, as all occurrences but one are within the Younger Dryas chronozone. Earlier Bølling-Allerød and later early Holocene components, while exhibiting similar organic preservation, did not yield evidence of fishing, suggesting that this was a response to changing environmental factors, perhaps reductions in higher ranked resources such as large terrestrial mammals. Late Pleistocene and recent Indigenous peoples harvested similar fish taxa in the region (salmon, burbot, whitefish, and pike). We characterize late Pleistocene fishing in interior Beringia as an important element of broad-spectrum foraging rather than the intensive communal fishing and storage common among recent peoples.

Species interactions in the Anthropocene.

Research Highlight: Van Scoyoc, A., Smith, J. A., Gaynor, K. M., Barker, K., & Brashares, J. S. (2023) The influence of human activity on predator-prey spatiotemporal overlap. Journal of Animal Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13892. Few corners of the globe remain untouched by humans, and thus nearly all wildlife communities are influenced by human activity. Van Scoyoc et al. (2023) present a framework that places predator-prey interactions explicitly within an anthropogenic context, revealing that predator-prey dyads fall into one of four categories depending on whether predators and prey are attracted to or avoid human activity. These responses can either increase or decrease overlap among species via divergent pathways, which can help to make sense of seemingly conflicting patterns from prior studies. Their framework facilitates hypothesis testing, which they demonstrate with a meta-analysis of 178 predator-prey dyads from 19 camera trap studies. With evidence for each of the four pathways, yet some unexpected outcomes for temporal overlap among dyads, this review generates exciting questions and lays out a productive path forward to improve our understanding of species interactions in the Anthropocene.

Biofilm colonization of stone materials from an Australian outdoor sculpture: Importance of geometry and exposure

The safeguarding of Australian outdoor stone heritage is currently limited by a lack of information concerning mechanisms responsible for the degradation of the built heritage. In this study, the bacterial community colonizing the stone surface of an outdoor sculpture located at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Melbourne was analysed, providing an overview of the patterns of microbial composition associated with stone in an anthropogenic context. Illumina MiSeq 16S rRNA gene sequencing together with confocal laser microscope investigations highlighted the bacterial community was composed of both phototrophic and chemotrophic microorganisms characteristic of stone and soil, and typical of arid, salty and urban environments. Cardinal exposure, position and surface geometry were the most important factors in determining the structure of the microbial community. The North-West exposed areas on the top of the sculpture with high light exposure gave back the highest number of sequences and were dominated by Cyanobacteria. The South and West facing in middle and lower parts of the sculpture received significantly lower levels of radiation and were dominated by Actinobacteria. Proteobacteria were observed as widespread on the sculpture. This pioneer research provided an in-depth investigation of the microbial community structure on a deteriorated artistic stone in the Australian continent and provides information for the identification of deterioration-associated microorganisms and/or bacteria beneficial for stone preservation.

CrowdWaterSens: An uncertainty-aware crowdsensing approach to groundwater contamination estimation

Groundwater contamination poses serious threats to public health and environmental sustainability. In this paper, we explore smart groundwater contamination sensing, which aims to accurately estimate the nitrate concentration in groundwater via a crowdsensing approach. Existing solutions often require professional groundwater collection and high-quality measurement of groundwater properties, making the data collection process time-consuming and unscalable. In this work, we leverage the approximate nitrate concentration measured by crowd sensors (i.e., participants from well-dependent communities) to accurately estimate nitrate concentration in groundwater samples. Three critical challenges exist in developing the crowdsensing-based groundwater contamination estimation solution: (i) the spatial irregularity of the crowdsensing groundwater contamination data, (ii) the hidden temporal dependency of groundwater contamination in the anthropogenic context, and (iii) the uncertainty of crowdsensing nitrate measurements from crowd sensors. To address the above challenges, we develop CrowdWaterSens, an uncertainty-aware graph neural network framework that explicitly examines the uncertainty and spatial irregularity of the crowdsensing groundwater contamination data and its relevant anthropogenic context to accurately estimate groundwater nitrate concentration. We evaluate the CrowdWaterSens framework through two real-world case studies in well-dependent communities in Northern Indiana, United States. The evaluation results not only show the effectiveness of CrowdWaterSens in accurately estimating nitrate concentration, but also demonstrate the viability of crowdsensing for community-level groundwater quality monitoring.

Incidence of Potentially Toxic Elements and Perfluoroalkyl Substances Present in Canned Anchovies and Their Impact on Food Safety.

Fish plays a key role in a healthy and balanced Italian diet, but it is also subject to the bioaccumulation of different contaminants depending on the geographical or anthropogenic context from which it is derived. In recent years, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has been focusing its attention on consumer toxicological risk, considering emerging contaminants such as perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and potentially toxic elements (PTEs). Regarding fish, anchovies are among the five small pelagic main commercial species in the European Union and the top five fresh species consumed by households in Italy. Considering the lack of data on PFASs and PTEs in this species, our aim was to investigate the mentioned contaminants in salted and canned anchovies collected over 10 months from different fishing areas, even those far apart, to verify possible variations in bioaccumulation and to consider the risk for the consumer. According to our results, the assessed risk was very reassuring also for large consumers. The only concern, related to Ni acute toxicity, also dependent on the different consumers' sensitivity, was related to only one sample.

Small Mediterranean coastal Lagoons Under Threat: Hydro-ecological Disturbances and Local Anthropogenic Pressures (Size Matters)

Mediterranean coastal lagoons are affected by multiple threats (demographic pressures, eutrophication, climate change) expected to increase in the future and impact the ecosystem services provided. Conservation norms and scientific studies usually focus on large lagoons (> 0.5 km2) due to their economic importance, while they ignore smaller lagoons. These are poorly understood and often unprotected, despite their prevalence within the Mediterranean region and their importance. Qualitative and quantitative characterisation of small lagoons, in terms of functioning and sensitivity to global and local changes, are needed to develop appropriate management strategies. For this purpose, this work provides the first inventory of all Corsican lagoons and has investigated three of them of small size (Arasu, Santa Giulia, Balistra), characterised by contrasting anthropogenic contexts (highly modified/disturbed, medium disturbance, quasi-pristine). At the regional level, 91 of the 95 lagoons identified are < 0.5 km2, making Corsica a good example for the study of small Mediterranean lagoons. The three case studies showed differences in their seasonal biogeochemical cycles and phytoplankton communities (biomass, diversity, photosynthetic efficiency). Arasu and Santa Giulia lagoons showed an increase in watershed urbanisation (+ 12% and + 6% in 30 years), high phytoplankton biomass, low diversity and blooms of potentially harmful dinoflagellates. Conversely, Balistra lagoon showed a good status overall, but some anthropogenic pollution sources within its watershed. This study demonstrates the importance of small lagoons at regional and Mediterranean scale, and provides knowledge on studied local sites but also potential applications elsewhere. The importance of an integrated approach considering lagoons within their adjacent connected systems (watershed and sea) and anthropogenic contexts is highlighted.

Study Of Extent of Global Uranium Contamination in Groundwater

Uranium exposure can result in health risks in both natural and anthropogenic contexts, due to its chemotoxicity and radiotoxicity. The former is anticipated to play a larger role in natural uranium exposure, whilst the latter is more significant in enriched uranium exposure. The largest consumer of groundwater worldwide is India. India is responsible for 85% of the world's freshwater supply and 60% of irrigated agriculture. Uranium is absorbed into the body through contaminated food or uranium-affected water, offering a health danger to humans who may be exposed to high quantities of uranium through their drinking water. The health effects of uranium exposure include leukaemia, prostate cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer, and bladder cancer. Evidence also suggests that drinking water contaminated with uranium might result in chronic renal disease, bone malformations, and liver damage. Uranium in drinking water must not exceed a WHO standard of 30 g/L. Uranium pollution is highest in China, the United States, Germany, Spain, Korea, Myanmar, Mongolia, Burundi, and other nations worldwide. In 151 districts across 18 states in India, high quantities of uranium have been found in ground water. This review focuses on impact of this metal contamination worldwide.

Twenty‐two years of vegetation succession on the constructed Danish island Peberholm

Peberholm is a constructed Danish island in the Øresund strait. It was primarily constructed by calcareous clay from the sea floor, and is traversed by a highway and a railway. Being constructed from material without a seed bank, Peberholm constituted a good opportunity to study primary succession in an anthropogenic context. In this study, data from a survey of the vascular plant community of Peberholm was studied. The data span over a 22 year‐period, between 1999 and 2020. The development of the flora was analysed with regards to indicators for environmental factors and vegetation types, as well as occurrence of alien species or species of conservation concern. Peberholm experienced a rapid succession during its first five years. The effects of the initial ground disturbance quickly wore off, resulting in a relative decline in plant communities associated with ruderal land. These highly anthropogenic habitats were replaced with grasslands. The shrubification also began early on. The rapid initial changes were then replaced with a much slower but also more continuous change, resulting in the development of both more natural grasslands and an increased shrubification. Although several rare or threatened species colonized Peberholm from the beginning, the conservation value of the flora on a whole increased during the succession process of forming more natural vegetation types. The succession process demonstrated at Peberholm has more in common with the succession at urban soils than with naturally occurring primary succession.

Impact of joint interactions with humans and social interactions with conspecifics on the risk of zooanthroponotic outbreaks among wildlife populations

Pandemics caused by pathogens that originate in wildlife highlight the importance of understanding the behavioral ecology of disease outbreaks at human–wildlife interfaces. Specifically, the relative effects of human–wildlife and wildlife-wildlife interactions on disease outbreaks among wildlife populations in urban and peri-urban environments remain unclear. We used social network analysis and epidemiological Susceptible-Infected-Recovered models to simulate zooanthroponotic outbreaks, through wild animals’ joint propensities to co-interact with humans, and their social grooming of conspecifics. On 10 groups of macaques (Macaca spp.) in peri-urban environments in Asia, we collected behavioral data using event sampling of human–macaque interactions within the same time and space, and focal sampling of macaques’ social interactions with conspecifics and overall anthropogenic exposure. Model-predicted outbreak sizes were related to structural features of macaques’ networks. For all three species, and for both anthropogenic (co-interactions) and social (grooming) contexts, outbreak sizes were positively correlated to the network centrality of first-infected macaques. Across host species and contexts, the above effects were stronger through macaques’ human co-interaction networks than through their grooming networks, particularly for rhesus and bonnet macaques. Long-tailed macaques appeared to show intraspecific variation in these effects. Our findings suggest that among wildlife in anthropogenically-impacted environments, the structure of their aggregations around anthropogenic factors makes them more vulnerable to zooanthroponotic outbreaks than their social structure. The global features of these networks that influence disease outbreaks, and their underlying socio-ecological covariates, need further investigation. Animals that consistently interact with both humans and their conspecifics are important targets for disease control.

Recreationally created footpaths as a means of preserving specific biotopes of bare sand accumulations: Evidence provided by dendrogeomorphic reconstruction

The combination of accumulation and erosion processes is the dominant geomorphic agent forming the surface of bare sand accumulations. These unique biotopes are gradually vanishing; thus, knowledge of their past dynamics is of crucial interest. This study focused on a selected locality with bare sand in the Borská Lowland (Slovakia). In total, nine buried individuals of Pinus sylvestris (L.) were used for the reconstruction of the accumulation rate of sand, and 13 exposed roots of the same tree species served as the data source for the erosion rate calculation. Detailed analysis of growth responses in trees and roots provided evidence about macroscopic and microscopic growth responses that are usable even in other studies and suggested P. sylvestris as a sensitive species for the reconstruction of accumulation and erosion processes. Reconstructed values of mean accumulation rate were higher than the mean erosion values. Finally, the obtained results were put into an anthropogenic context because the studied locality is surrounded by zones with seasonally inhabited holiday cottages. The effect of anthropogenic activities (particularly by stepping) can be associated with the wide spectrum of collected evidence: Bare sand areas were not located around other water reservoirs with the absence of recreational activities in the region. The erosion zone in the studied locality follows the zone with an increased number of forest pathways. It is possible that the increased nutrition content in transported sand due to gardening affected the occurrence of growth releases in the studied trees.

Habitat structure, not the anthropogenic context or large predators, shapes occupancy of a generalist mesopredator across protected areas in South Africa

Habitat structure, not the anthropogenic context or large predators, shapes occupancy of a generalist mesopredator across protected areas in South Africa

Prioritising conservation actions for extremely data-poor species: A risk assessment for one of the world's rarest marine fishes

Effective prioritisation of research and conservation action for threatened species requires understanding the relative importance of the various pressures they face. This can be difficult for rare, cryptic, and data-deficient species, particularly when drivers of population decline are complex and indirectly impact one another. We developed a risk assessment-based approach that accounts for cascading ecological changes and indirect impacts between human and environmental pressures for threatened species, for application when data-dense assessment approaches are not possible. We applied this framework to the Critically Endangered red handfish (Thymichthys politus), one of the rarest and most threatened fishes in the world, currently only known from two highly localised populations in Australia's south-east. Our approach identified the unique life history strategy of handfishes, coastal warming, indirect ecological pressures caused by recreational fishing, urban development, and poaching as the greatest current threats to the persistence of the species. Mitigation options identified to have the greatest immediate reduction in extinction risk include an ex situ captive population and release program to bolster numbers in the wild, and engagement with the commercial sea urchin fishery to help reduce impact within critical habitat. Our risk assessment process may provide a useful framework for allowing managers to make more informed and supported decisions for other species that are similarly data-poor, and when decisions would otherwise necessarily rely on best guesses that do not consider their broader ecological, environmental and anthropogenic contexts.

Toward a conceptual framework for managing and conserving marine habitats: A case study of kelp forests in the Salish Sea.

Kelp forests are in decline across much of their range due to place‐specific combinations of local and global stressors. Declines in kelp abundance can lead to cascading losses of biodiversity and productivity with far‐reaching ecological and socioeconomic consequences. The Salish Sea is a hotspot of kelp diversity where many species of kelp provide critical habitat and food for commercially, ecologically, and culturally important fish and invertebrate species. However, like other regions, kelp forests in much of the Salish Sea are in rapid decline. Data gaps and limited long‐term monitoring have hampered attempts to identify and manage for specific drivers of decline, despite the documented urgency to protect these important habitats. To address these knowledge gaps, we gathered a focus group of experts on kelp in the Salish Sea to identify perceived direct and indirect stressors facing kelp forests. We then conducted a comprehensive literature review of peer‐reviewed studies from the Salish Sea and temperate coastal ecosystems worldwide to assess the level of support for the pathways identified by the experts, and we identified knowledge gaps to prioritize future research. Our results revealed major research gaps within the Salish Sea and highlighted the potential to use expert knowledge for making informed decisions in the region. We found high support for the pathways in the global literature, with variable consensus on the relationship between stressors and responses across studies, confirming the influence of local ecological, oceanographic, and anthropogenic contexts and threshold effects on stressor–response relationships. Finally, we prioritized areas for future research in the Salish Sea. This study demonstrates the value expert opinion has to inform management decisions. These methods are readily adaptable to other ecosystem management contexts, and the results of this case study can be immediately applied to kelp management.

New insights into the medieval history of a non-urban territory: multidisciplinary investigations in SE Lithuania

This paper presents results of the interdisciplinary investigations into the ancient wooden construction, presumably, a well, discovered near the Pamerkiai village, south-eastern Lithuania. The study aims at ascertaining the context (specific geological-geomorphological situation and the habitation history of this territory) of this comparably well-preserved and very uncommon find. The discovered wooden construction and its environment were investigated applying a multi-disciplinary approach combining the archaeological survey, which includes analysis of the collected artefacts, the dendrological examination of the timber used for construction, investigations of the plant macroremains and pollen found in the infilling material, and the 14C dating (conventional and AMS) of the organic material; and the geological-geomorphological characterization of the site. A new perspective to gain data about the infrastructure that might have existed in the area in the 15th century is provided: the integrated and interdisciplinary research is believed to reveal the natural and anthropogenic context. A discussion on the feasibility of tracing the origins of the modern Pamerkiai village is generated. It is alternatively hypothesized that the discovered wooden construction is part of the stopover place on the highroad that has been archaeologically unexplored.

Geochemical approach to determine the anthropogenic signal at non-intensively settled archaeological sites – The case of an Iron Age enclosure in Bohemia

We present a geochemical analysis of a specific Iron Age type of site known as the Viereckschanze – a square enclosure located in Bělčice, southern Bohemia. We performed soil coring from the topsoil to ca 100 cm depth, with 200 cores (divided into 456 samples). The samples were measured using portable XRF and the final dataset comprised 16 elements (Al, Si, P, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Rb, Sr, Zr, Pb, and LE – ‘light elements’). Because of the compositional character of data expressed in ppm, the data were transformed using isometric log-ratio transformation, which enabled them to carry out a multivariate analysis. This made it possible to determine the anthropogenic and natural content of elements. The site was specific when compared to usual archaeological sites for its ‘unconventional’ chemical signal: 1) the P signal typical for archaeological settlements was found mainly outside of the enclosure; 2) the conventional anthropogenic signal from the inside of the enclosure was only represented by Mn; 3) other elements related to possible anthropogenic activities were revealed only after applying statistical analysis (specifically As, Pb, Zn, Cu); 4) the unusual manifestation of Si and Ti (usually natural signals) strongly connected to anthropogenic contexts was observed. Increased contents of Cu, Zn and especially Pb were recorded in places indicated by previous magnetic measurements which were possibly related to an onsite metalworking activity. Such results could be characterised as a mixture of typical human-related signals (represented mainly by P and Mn) and typical natural signals (like Si, and Ti). These observations corroborate the hypothesis of a specificity of the Viereckschanzen. They did not have to be used exclusively for residential purposes and could have had a different, more complex socio-economic role in the past. Last but not least, their occupation was probably also rather short-time.