Historical Ecology Approach Research Articles

Contrasted Successional Trajectories in a Mediterranean Wetland Due to Geomorphic- and Human-Induced Perturbations

Wetland ecosystems in water-limited environments locally boost biotic interactions, habitat diversity, and species concentrations, but little knowledge exists on their long-term functioning and susceptibility to regime shifts that might influence conservation and reclamation actions. Here we used a historical ecology approach on a rare Mediterranean peat-bog to reconstruct ecological successions for the last 4 millennia. The reconstruction is used to explore the role of geomorphic thresholds, climate changes, and anthropogenic perturbations as drivers of the ecosystem trajectory in the frame of the projected aridification of the climate. Our findings highlight how the superimposition of pastoral disturbances to river incision, has exacerbated ecosystem sensitivity to climate changes. Considering the long-term trajectory, the disappearance of the ecosystem might occur independently of changes in the precipitation regime. Insights given by Historical Ecology have implications for our understanding of ecosystem responses to perturbations, demonstrating that long-term dynamics must be considered before engaging in strict conservation action.

Digitalization and Classification of Cesare Battisti’s Atlas of 1915

The paper deals with an automated methodology for the digital acquisition of thematic information from historical maps in order to use them for spatial analysis in a GIS software. This methodology has been applied to an early XIX c. map in order to assess the historical changes in the forest coverage in Trentino. Specifically, a tailored Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) and filtering procedure has been applied to digitize and georeference Cesare Battisti’s map of forest density published in his atlas “Il Trentino. Economic Statistical Illustration” from 1915. According to the historical ecology approach, forest history can be analyzed and evaluated with the use of historical documentary sources. Following this approach, historical cartography is a precious information tool, and in many respects unique, through which it is possible to reconstruct the evolution of the forest cover of a given territory. Trentino, in particular, has a rich heritage of historical maps from which to draw useful information for the construction of a qualitative and quantitative diachronic picture of the evolutionary dynamics of wooded areas. In these territories, forest management is a topic of great importance both for its socio-economic implications and for the more strictly environmental ones, connected to the increasingly urgent need to implement mitigation and adaptation policies towards climate change. Thus, the paper presents the historical maps and illustrates the methodology used for the digitisation. Data extracted by the historical sources have been compared with the current one in order to identify changes in forest density in the last century.

The historical range and drivers of decline of the Tapanuli orangutan.

The Tapanuli Orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) is the most threatened great ape species in the world. It is restricted to an area of about 1,000 km2 of upland forest where fewer than 800 animals survive in three declining subpopulations. Through a historical ecology approach involving analysis of newspaper, journals, books and museum records from the early 1800s to 2009, we demonstrate that historically Pongo tapanuliensis inhabited a much larger area, and occurred across a much wider range of habitat types and at lower elevations than now. Its current Extent of Occurrence is 2.5% and 5.0% of the historical range in the 1890s and 1940s respectively. A combination of historical fragmentation of forest habitats, mostly for small-scale agriculture, and unsustainable hunting likely drove various populations to the south, east and west of the current population to extinction. This happened prior to the industrial-scale forest conversion that started in the 1970s. Our findings indicate how sensitive P. tapanuliensis is to the combined effects of habitat fragmentation and unsustainable take-off rates. Saving this species will require prevention of any further fragmentation and killings or other removal of animals from the remaining population. Without concerted action to achieve this, the remaining populations of P. tapanuliensis are doomed to become extinct within several orangutan generations.

An historical ecological assessment of land-use evolution and observed landscape change in an arid aeolian sedimentary system.

Coastal areas worldwide are undergoing major changes and degradation due to a set of combined natural and anthropogenic stressors. In arid aeolian sedimentary systems these changes can be even more acute given their sensitivity to perturbances in landscape dynamics. While in many such areas recent (20 year) observations have been made regarding measurable differences in dune coverage and stability, few studies have assessed and quantified the long-term relationships of transitioning exploitation and land-use changes in order to fully evaluate their importance. Land management, therefore, does not always benefit from the more holistic picture that a combined deeper time historical ecology and geographical approach provides and can contribute to decision making. The Jandía isthmus, in Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain) presented an ideal field laboratory in which to assess these phenomena in actual conditions and test a combined methodology using historical and current sources (historical documents, aerial photographs, orthophotos, LiDAR data, field work and oral sources). By doing so, different phases of land exploitation associated with changing land ownership were identified and the consequences of each on the dune system assessed. It is concluded that the transition from traditional land uses (livestock and fuel extraction) to more recent ones (aggregate extraction, construction of new roads and urban-touristic resorts, and some recreational uses) has altered aeolian sedimentary transport, inducing stabilization of the landforms, as well as producing significant changes in the vegetation. The wider application of this type of study can benefit the many other areas worldwide that are facing similar pressures.

In the Footsteps of Amelia Brown: Collaborative Historical Ecology at Shin-yvslh-sri∼, a Tolowa Village on the North Coast of California

Research at Shin-yvslh-sri (CADNO-14), a pre-contact Tolowa village and shell midden site on the north coast of California, involves an innovative collaborative historical ecology approach—an explicitly multi-disciplinary cooperative effort between Tribal communities, a Federal agency, cultural resource management practitioners, and academic researchers. Multiple lines of evidence—including ethno-historic, oral history, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) data, documentation of past archaeological research, analysis of varied scales of (micro and macro) archaeological data from both recent fieldwork and legacy collections—give a more complete picture of the historical ecology of the northern California coast. Results indicate that plank house village life emerged at Shin-yvslh-sri∼ approximately 1,000 years ago, and that people pursued a wide array of marine and terrestrial taxa throughout its occupation. Archaeological data provide new evidence, as well as support for oral histories indicating the critical importance of mass captured smelt, as well as salmon, shellfish, and marine mammals. In addition to providing important data on coastal human-environmental systems, the project provides a case study model for future studies in collaborative historical ecology, particularly those that involve indigenous community concerns at endangered coastal archaeological and cultural sites.

Successful hard pine regeneration and survival through repeated burning: An applied historical ecology approach

Forest inventories commonly report fire-adapted pine populations severely reduced from pre-EuroAmerican times due to the combined effects of past land uses and altered fire regimes. Relatively little information exists about the fire ecology and management of hard pine ecosystems in the northeastern U.S. The objective of this study was to determine what burning frequencies best promote regeneration and recruitment of three hard pine species native to the northeastern U.S. We used data from dendrochronological fire history studies to derive historical fire years, pine regeneration years, and individual tree survival information. For all tree species, pith calendar years ranged from 1530 to 1932 with the majority of regeneration occurring prior to 1754 (the earliest dates of EuroAmerican settlement). The number of years from fire occurrence at a site to regeneration (pith year) ranged from 0 (i.e., regeneration occurred in year of fire, n = 9) to 130 with a median of 8 years. Frequency distributions of regeneration following fire were similarly shaped across species, all being strongly negatively skewed (i.e., most regeneration occurred soon after fires) and increasing abruptly (>100% increase) from 0 to 1 year since fire and then declining following a negative exponential curve. The number of years from regeneration to the next fire ranged from 0 to 172 years with a median of 14 years. Frequency distributions of hard pine survival were negatively skewed, with the exception of red pine. Overall, these data suggest that these species exhibit relatively high regeneration in the years immediately following fire events and a subsequent decrease with time since fire. Although other factors may affect the regeneration of pine following fire, it appears that significant statistical relationships can be established and used to develop effective fire frequency guidelines for successful hard pine regeneration.

Aboriginal marine subsistence foraging flexibility in a dynamic estuarine environment: The late development of Tin Can Inlet (southeast Queensland) middens revisited

Although the sea arrived in southeast Queensland around 8000 years ago, most estuarine middens date to the past 1000 years. An example is midden deposits dating to the past 400 years forming the upper levels of Sites 62 and 75b from Tin Can Inlet located immediately south of the Fraser Island (K’gari) World Heritage Area. Both sites were excavated and analysed in the 1980s. This paper revisits these results following a detailed re-analysis of midden materials and new insights on regional sea level changes. Taking an historical ecology approach, species-specific habitat requirements and associated substrate sediment dynamics help explain similarities and differences between the two midden shell assemblages. Environmental factors and the location of both sites on landforms that formed following sea level fall over the past 2000 years help explain why the basal levels of both sites are probably <1000–1500 years old. Documenting pre-2000-year-old Aboriginal use of Tin Can Inlet will need to target more elevated inland dune deposits (>5m ASL) fronting the mid-Holocene sea level highstand palaeoshoreline.

Land use legacies on forest understory vegetation and soils in the Mediterranean region: Should we use historical maps or in situ land use remnants?

How to move forward if we cannot understand our present from our past? The same applies for the study of ecosystems. Evidence of ecological legacies in temperate post-agricultural forests has been provided on soil physico-chemical properties and understory vegetation richness and composition, which led to distinguish ancient and recent forests. However, no land use legacies dating back more than 50 years have been reported in Mediterranean forests. The definition of ancient and recent forests usually relies on a threshold date, most often provided by historical maps. In France, the Etat-Major map is the most precise, with a relatively high resolution and drawn over the whole country with a standardised method. However, the use of historical maps only for studying land use legacies in forest is questionable in a Mediterranean context characterised by a traditional agro-sylvo-pastoral system. Using a historical ecology approach, our purpose was to examine the legacies of various former land uses on soil and understory vegetation in Mediterranean forests and to compare the relevance of two historical sources: 1860 land use map (map-based PLU) and remnants recorded in the field (in situ PLU remnants). In the Regional Natural Park of Luberon (French Mediterranean area), we inventoried plant communities and analysed soil physico-chemical properties on 100 plots with various past land uses according the Etat-Major map (arable, pasture or forest) and in situ PLU remnants (terrace, stone removal or no remnants). Compared to ancient forest, former arable land hosted more species and had deeper and nutrient-richer soils while former pasture had shallower and nutrient-poorer soils. Similarly, and compared with no remnants, terraces hosted more species and had deeper and nutrient-richer soils whereas stone removal had shallower and nutrient-poorer soils. Understory species composition significantly varied according to map-based PLU and in situ PLU remnants. However, in situ PLU remnants were globally a much better indicator of land use legacies on soil and understory plant composition compared to map-based PLU. We thus confirmed the legacies of past land use on Mediterranean forest soil and understory vegetation. We also stressed that historical ecology should rely on both field evidence and historical maps, particularly in Mediterranean landscapes with a complex history of land uses.

Horizon Scanning: Survey and Research Priorities for Cultural, Historical, and Paleobiological Resources of Santa Cruz Island, California

Santa Cruz Island contains a remarkable array of cultural and biological resources and a rich tradition of research across the social and biological sciences and humanities. Given dramatic changes in climate forecast in the coming decades of the Anthropocene, however, many questions remain about the sustainability and future of island ecosystems and cultural resources. Here, we focus on a new interdisciplinary initiative, Island Rediscovery (IR), that was the subject of 2 recent workshops. Drawing on a variety of disciplines and approaches, IR seeks to utilize research on Santa Cruz Island's past and present to help better prepare for the future and plan for forecast change, an approach we call horizon scanning. Our focus is on archaeology, history, and paleobiology, 3 disciplines that offer deep historical perspectives critical to understanding modern ecosystems and preparing for future variability. We outline the potential of deep historical research, offer core questions that can guide future work, and document the need for a large synthetic database and digitization effort. By integrating the historical and biological sciences, the historical ecological approach of IR offers a new framework for managing the resources of the California Islands by providing baselines and context for management, documenting the range of ecological variability through deep time, and helping establish desired future conditions.

The historical ecology approach in species conservation–Identifying suitable habitat management for the endangered clouded Apollo butterfly (<em>Parnassius mnemosyne</em> L.) in Sweden

A core task in biodiversity conservation is to protect and restore populations of endangered species. The analysis of causes of decline based on data sampled in declining populations in sub-optimal habitats risks overlooking necessary environmental factors because they are no longer present at the sites. It may therefore be necessary to search for conditions that were present before the species began to decline. We used an historical ecology approach to identify critical ecological needs for the endangered butterfly Clouded Apollo, Parnassius mnemosyne, in Sweden in relation to historical and current land use. The most suitable habitat structure and management was transformed into a plan for restoration and management, applied at two P. mnemosyne sites. The populations of P. mnemosyne and its host-plant, Corydalis solida, were monitored annually 2004–2014. Based on previous knowledge about P. mnemosyne, the Swedish plan for conservation of the species recommends regular clearings of shrubs and trees in order to maintain a mosaic tree-grassland habitat, and a limited of removal of ground biomass. Our analysis suggested an alternative management approach, late and rather intense grazing. The populations of P. mnemosyne and its host plant increased in response to this management regime and the butterfly started dispersing to new sites. We suggest a structured method for combining ecological and historical knowledge, which can reveal habitat conditions difficult to detect in the field today, but that are of crucial importance for successful species conservation.

Multi-analytical approach to zooarchaeological assemblages elucidates Late Holocene coastal lifeways in southwest Madagascar

The impact of resource exploitation by ancient human communities on Madagascar's environment is an area of intense debate. A fundamental question in the archaeology of Madagascar is the extent to which arrival of settlers, introduction of non-native plants and animals, and subsequent human exploitation of island biota, which catalyzed declines in biodiversity and significantly degraded environmental conditions. Fine-grained datasets, including zooarchaeological, archaeobotanical and other ecological evidence, are needed to assess the relationship between human resource exploitation and environmental change. On Madagascar, the resolution of zooarchaeological datasets is often reduced by poor preservation of faunal remains, making precise taxonomic identifications difficult, and few projects to-date have comprehensively assessed zooarchaeological data. Here, we present zooarchaeological data from three coastal villages in the Velondriake Marine Protected Area in southwest Madagascar, where human occupation spans from ca. 1400 BP to the present. Faunal remains from the Late Holocene sites of Antsaragnagnangy and Antsaragnasoa were identified using morphological analysis of remains, and a PCR-based bulk bone metabarcoding approach was applied at Andamotibe to molecularly identify fish and other vertebrates in a faunal assemblage that was particularly fragmented. Results were interpreted and contextualized using modern data on local fish diversity, climate and anthropogenic impacts on marine and estuarine habitats, as well as modern fishing practices (including preferred fishing grounds, tackle, taxonomic representation and volume of catch). Our use of multiple analytical and interpretative approaches has provided the most highly resolved view to date of past human subsistence in coastal southwest Madagascar. We contend that future research into human-environment dynamics on Madagascar should make use of diverse analytical methods, in order to more comprehensively evaluate past interactions between human communities and the native biota. Furthermore, we encourage an historical ecological approach, so that long-term perspectives on changing human-environment dynamics may be used to contextualize modern trends.

I Ka Wā Ma Mua: The Value of a Historical Ecology Approach to Ecological Restoration in Hawai‘i

Human activity has altered nearly every landscape on earth, and ecological restoration to repair degraded ecosystems has become a conservation necessity. Hawai‘i is a microcosm for intense landscape change, where levels of native biodiversity and threats to it are among the highest in the world, and where Kānaka Maoli (Hawai‘i's indigenous people), who stewarded these lands for a millennium, currently face massive inequalities. Consequently, biocultural restoration has emerged as a method to reciprocally restore ecological and cultural integrity and is especially applicable in Hawai‘i's sizeable invasivedominated areas. Since Kānaka Maoli are an inseparable part of every land and seascape in Hawai‘i, any ecological restoration project has the potential to use a biocultural restoration approach. However, most restoration approaches are purely ecological, and for many conservation practitioners a sociocultural understanding of the landscape can seem inaccessible. In this article, we discuss the value of a historical ecology approach (understanding the interaction between people and landscapes over time) for successful restoration and management of biocultural landscapes in Hawai‘i. We use a case study in Kahalu‘u, Kona, to outline historical ecology methods and available resources in Hawai‘i, including written documents, maps, imagery, archaeological studies, and interviews, and discuss applications of this approach on-the-ground. Potential benefits of employing this approach include expanding knowledge of reference conditions, understanding practices contributing to landscape function over space and time, and building meaningful relationships to engaging community around a site. We argue that a historical ecology approach is readily adoptable into ecological restoration in Hawai‘i, especially in its human-dominated landscapes.

Fifty years of environmental changes of the Amacuzac riparian ecosystem: a social perceptions and historical ecology approach

Critical aspects of hydrological science need to include historical perspectives about land and water use, and to understand the kind of knowledge policy­makers and society require, so that this expertise can be translated into actions directed to water management challenges. We combined environmental perceptions with historical ecology techniques to understand the past and present relationships between people and the riparian environment, and to highlight the overriding influences of historic land­use changes in the region. We analyzed the perceptions of elderly stakeholders who have lived for >50 years in ten localities established inside and outside a protected area along the Amacuzac, one of the largest rivers in Morelos, Mexico. The river was and still is an important part of community life, in spite of its present poor condition. Perspectives of elders living inside the protected area were mostly related to conservation aspects of ecosystem functioning, impact on vegetation, and water problems related to land use. The loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services were recognized as the leading cause ofthe loss of ecosystem products and of their commercialization, as well as other changes in local economies. We conclude that effectively protected areas can improve the biological quality of watercourses if a decidedly more conservationist focus is placed upon streams and the surrounding territory.

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

Cultural forests of the Amazon: a historical ecology of people and their landscapes

Cultural Forests of the Amazon is a comprehensive and diverse account of how indigenous people transformed landscapes and managed resources in the most extensive region of tropical forests in the world. Until recently, most scholars and scientists, as well as the general public, thought indigenous people had a minimum impact on Amazon forests, once considered to be total wildernesses. William Balee's research, conducted over a span of three decades, shows a more complicated truth. In Cultural Forests of the Amazon , he argues that indigenous people, past and present, have time and time again profoundly transformed nature into culture. Moreover, they have done so using their traditional knowledge and technology developed over thousands of years. Balee demonstrates the inestimable value of indigenous knowledge in providing guideposts for a potentially less destructive future of environments and biota in the Amazon. He shows that we can no longer think about species and landscape diversity in any tropical forest without taking into account the intricacies of human history and the impact of all forms of knowledge and technology. Balee describes the development of his historical ecology approach in Amazonia, along with important material on little-known forest dwellers and their habitats, current thinking in Amazonian historical ecology, and a narrative of his own dialogue with the Amazon and its people.

Buddhism and its Relationship to Dvaravati Period Settlement Patterns and Material Culture in Northeast Thailand and Central Laos c. Sixth–Eleventh Centuries a.d. : A Historical Ecology Approach to the Landscape of the Khorat Plateau

This article employs the research paradigm of historical ecology to investigate the spread and development of early Buddhism in the Khorat Plateau during the Dvaravati period. The movement of this religion into the region was largely determined by preexisting settlement patterns, with moated sites being particularly important. The arrival of Buddhism also introduced monumental architecture and a definable art style. These moated settlements were dependent on large-scale river systems such as the Mun and Chi, particularly in regard to water management, agriculture, transport, and communication. A study of the distribution of sema stones also provides evidence for the spread of Buddhism, while Buddha images carved into rock faces on mountaintops and evidence for rock shelters illustrate that the tradition of forest monks was functioning alongside the more established urban monasticism. The relationship between Buddhism and society is explored, illustrating how the arrival of this religion resulted in new cognitive and physical conceptions of the landscape best demonstrated by changes in settlement planning. Finally, it is shown that Buddhism did not function outside of society but existed in an interdependent relationship with both the lay community and local rulers, with patronage being granted in return for not only spiritual guidance but political legitimization.

A View from the East: An Interdisciplinary ‘Historical Ecology’ Approach to a Contemporary Agricultural Landscape in Northwest Kenya

This article draws on the author's own research into an agricultural landscape in Pokot, north-west Kenya, to suggest new directions for interdisciplinary historical and archaeological research in southern Africa. In particular the author identifies a landscape-based historical ecology approach as potentially useful and demonstrates its application with reference to the Pokot study.

Historical Social and Indigenous Ecology Approach to Social Movements in Mexico and Latin America

The struggle for the recognition of indigenous rights is one of the most important social movements in Mexico. Before the 1970s, existing peasant organizations did not represent indigenous concerns. Since 1975 there has been a resurgence of indigenous movements and have raised new demands and defense of their cultural values. However, indigenous social mobilization had been laid in local and regional peasant struggles across the 1970s and 1980s. Also the indigenous movement is not homogeneous and does not include all ethnic groups in the country, but it has many different expressions and encompasses different entities at local, regional and national levels. This paper aims to analyze the historical social approach and under the frame of indigenous political ecology of social movements for recognition of indigenous rights in contemporary Mexico.

Wild in the City: Past, Present, and Future

This paper analyzes human-animal landscapes within an urban setting. I use a historical ecology approach to discuss the formation of (post)modern landscapes in the twenty-first century Los Angeles. The historical approach is necessary to make informed decisions for habitat restoration, and to map out human influences on natural ecosystems (Egan and Howell 2001). In the process I discuss strategies for a new urban wildlife theory. Conflicts and encounters between humans and non-humans can be more intense and controversial in a city. Because cities are usually seen as human-only landscapes, urban wildlife is more marginalized there than anywhere else. This is especially relevant in Los Angeles, a prime example of unchecked growth that brings more urbanites to the periphery and into contact with wild animals. For that reason I maintain that an urban setting is ideal for wildlife conservation and creating more egalitarian human-nonhuman relations and for breaching of traditional boundaries of exclusion. The definition of urban, in this paper, includes areas within city limits, as well as areas outside: suburbs or urban fringe. With growing urbanization and the spread of built-up areas all over the world, there remains no choice but to create more hospitable conditions for wildlife within the city, if we want to preserve the wellbeing of individual animals or entire species and ecosystems. I am interested in various qualities in urban landscapes that would create these conditions.

San Jacinto 1: An Historical Ecological Approach to an Archaic Site in Colombia

San Jacinto 1: An Historical Ecological Approach to an Archaic Site in Colombia