Paleoecological and paleolandscape modeling support for pre-Columbian burning by Native Americans in the Golden Trout Wilderness Area, California, USA
| Autor: | Anna Klimaszewski-Patterson, Scott Mensing |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Ecology 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology Geography Planning and Development Archaeological record Ecological succession 15. Life on land medicine.disease_cause 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Indigenous Taxon Geography 13. Climate action Pollen visual_art medicine visual_art.visual_art_medium Physical geography Landscape ecology Charcoal Nature and Landscape Conservation Wilderness area |
| Zdroj: | Landscape Ecology. 35:2659-2678 |
| ISSN: | 1572-9761 0921-2973 |
| Popis: | Though people have used fire to alter landscapes across North America for millennia, there remains a debate whether Native Americans altered California’s mountainous forests to create an anthropogenic landscape. We use paleoecological reconstructions and paleolandscape modeling to test whether climate or Native Americans were the driving force of pre-historic forest composition change. Understanding pre-historic forests and land-use legacies becomes more critical in a warming climate as wildfires become deadlier and more extensive. We performed a sub-centennial pollen and charcoal reconstruction for the last 1200 years using standard techniques. We then used a forest succession model to quantitatively test drivers of change: climatic fires only, or the addition of Native American-set surface fires. Hypothesized periods of anthropogenic burning were inferred from the pollen record (more open canopy taxa than climatically expected). Modeled outputs were compared against the paleorecord to determine which drivers best explained changes in the empirical record. Periods of occupation from the archaeological record were compared to hypothesized periods of burning. Pollen and charcoal reconstructions showed intermittent periods inconsistent with climatic expectations. Modeled scenarios including surface fires set by Native Californians during these periods had the greatest correlation with the observed paleoecological record. Inferred periods of burning corresponded temporally with site used based on the archaeological record. California’s pre-historic forests were altered by the traditional use of fire as a tool by Native Americans. Modeled outputs hint that incorporating indigenous resources management practices could improve forest health and decrease the likelihood of catastrophic wildfires. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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