The making of today: cultural biogeography

1
The making of today cultural biogeography

• Use of Tools and Fire
• Domestication
• Transplantation
• Biocides
• Conservation

2
Human impacts on the worlds fauna and flora
MEANS ENDS (e.g.) TIME (yrs) Tools Hunting 500,0
00 Fire Ecosystem change 50,000 Domestication In
c. food supply 10,000 Transplantation Biotic
homogenization 500 Biocides Pest
control 50 Conservation Species maintenance 50
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Hunting tools and effects
Wooden (spruce) spears found in association with
butchered horses (plus elephant and rhinoceros
bones) in middle Pleistocene deposits ( 400,000
BP) at Schöningnen, north Germany.
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Late Pleistocene extinctions of megamammals
5
Major periods of extinctions of large mammals in
late Quaternary
6
Was climate change to blame?
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The demise of the Australian megafauna
Graphic http//acl.arts.usyd.edu.au/research/cudd
ie/animalssm.gif
According to Roberts et al., (2001), the
continent - wide extinction of the Australian
megafauna occurred about 46 000 years ago, within
105 ka of human arrival. Roberts, R.G. et al.
2001. Science 292, 1888-1892.
e.g. Diprotodon a 2m tall,3 ton wombat
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Were humans to blame?

• Roberts et al. (2001) found that 12 of the 20
  genera of megafauna survived until at least 80
  000 years ago and extinction occurred
  simultaneously across the continent at about 46
  ka BP.

• Extinction may have been a product ofbutchering
  by huntersecosystem disruption (by fire?)by
  Aboriginal colonistsclimatic change

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Are we also to blame in the Americas?- the
Pleistocene blitzkrieg hypothesis. (15 genera
go extinct in North America from 11.5 -10 ka
BP)(note killing front)
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Post-colonial extinctions (North America)
Some of the victims
Tool fluted point
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Times of extinction the initial phase
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Post-colonial extinction New Zealand moas(11
species of ratites all now extinct)
Archaeological evidence
Population model (simulation)
Holdaway, R.N. and Jacomb, C. 2000. Science 287,
2250-2254.
13
Post-colonial extinction modeleastern Polynesia
Steadman, D.W. and Martin, P.S. 2003. Jour.
Archaeol. Sci., 61, 133-147.
14
Post-colonial extinction Dodo (Raphus
cucullatus)

• A giant flightless pigeon restricted to the the
  island of Mauritius.
• First sighted AD1600, the dodo was extinct by
  AD1693.
• Sailors butchered them for food, and feral
  animals (rats, cats and pigs) destroyed their
  nests.

Graphic courtesy of the American Museum of
Natural History
15
Post-colonial (near) extinction of the buffalo
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Post-colonial extinctionthe passenger pigeon
109 106 103 100
?
Population
1800 1903
17
Post-colonial extinction the Rocky Mountain
locust
1875 a swarm of 3 trillion insects (the swarm
covered 300000sq. km, 0.5 km deep) passed over
central Great Plains. 1876 US Congress declared
the locust to be the single greatest impediment
to the settlement of the country. 1902 last
pair observed in Manitoba. Ploughing of
floodplain areas in western plainslikely
destroyed their breeding habitat Lockwood, J.
2004. Locust Basic Books
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Extinctions since AD 1600
Mammals Birds Asia 4 5 Africa 11 2 S.
America 1 - N. America 10 7 Europe 6 1 Antarctica
1 68 W. Indies 3 22 Hawaii - 24 incl. islands
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Use of tools (axes and fire)deforestation
Jerf-el-Ahmar archaeological site N.
Syria 11,600 years old
20
Pollen record, Ghab valley
5 8 10 15
ka,BP
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Effects of deforestation
On the landscape of Attica (central Greece),
Plato commented what now remains compared with
what then existed is like the skeleton of a sick
man, all the fat and soft earth having wasted
away, and only the bare framework of the land
being left In the Mediterranean Basin
deforestation as a result of agricultural
clearance and pasture led to permanent changes in
the character of the ecosystem.
22

Maori colonization 1000 BP
Maori use of fire for forest clearance
1. Charcoal in soil 2. Bracken (rhizomes
gathered)3. Moa habitat modification?
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Fire as a tool of ecosystem maintenance
the Indians of the interior have another
intolerable method, . . . which is to fire the
plains and forests . . . both to drive the
mosquitoes away and at the same time drive
lizards and like things from the earth to eat.
They also kill deer by encircling fires deprived
of pasturage, the animals are forced to seek it
where the Indians may trap them. Cabeza de Vaca,
A.N. Relación (1542) Cabeza de Vaca was
shipwrecked by a hurricane on the coast of Texas
in 1528 after trying to sail a raft back to
Havana with the few survivors of an ill-fated
Spanish expedition to search for gold in Florida.
He reached the Spanish settlements on the west
coast of Mexico 8 years later.
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Domestication from foraging to farming
Roots and tubers Forager dig up. Transition dig
up-replant part. Early farmer clear land, plant
roots, weed, harvest, save some
roots,etc. Grains Forager pluck
seedheads Transition cut seedheads-save
some-replant. Early farmer clear land, plant
seeds, weed, harvest, save some seed,etc.
easiest seeds to save were non-shattering (e.g.
changeover from einkorn to wheat)
Did roots precede grains? David Harris
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Plant cultigensPurpose
Examples

• Food
• Food additives
• Fibre
• Wood
• Beverages
• Narcotics, stimulants
• Ornamentals

• rice, cabbage
• pepper, sugar
• hemp, jute
• radiata pine
• tea, coffee
• tobacco, grape
• tulip, rose

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The geography of domestication
De Candolle, a Swiss botanist, investigated areas
of domestication in the 19th C. The Russian
botanist N.I. Vavilov undertook extensive field
collections to identify hearths of
domestication from the 1920s until his death in
1943. Vavilov contended that diversity hotspots
in domesticated species (e.g. 50 varieties of
Zea mays grown in southern Mexico-Guatemala at
present) were indicative of hearths. Jack Harlan
(American geneticist), however, noted that plant
species are particularly prone to radiate into
diverse varieties in mountain areas - these may
not be the original hearths.
Nikolai Vavilov
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Plant domestication hearths
after Vavilov
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Crop hearths

• 1. China rice, soybean, rhubarb, apricots,
  citrus, tea?
• 2. India / SE Asia eggplant, mango, jute, rice,
  banana, sugarcane
• 3. Pak-Afghanistan cotton, soybeans?
• 4. Middle East wheat, onion, turnip, apple, fig,
  melon, alfalfa, pea, lentil
• 5. Mediterranean date, olive, lettuce, sugar
  beet
• 6. Ethiopia coffee, okra
• 7. Mesoamerica maize, sweet potato, avocado,
  cotton, capsicum
• 8. Andes / Brazil potato, pumpkin, tomato,
  runner bean / peanut, pineapple, tobacco

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African hearths
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Early wheat varieties
Einkorn
Emmer
Spelt
Kamut
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Biogeographic range of wild cereals
Einkorn
Barley
Emmer
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Domestication of wheat
bread wheat
wild emmer
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Times of initial doemstication
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Animal cultigensPurpose
Examples

• Food
• Labour
• Hunting
• Animal products
• Ornamentals

• cattle
• horse, yak
• dog
• silk, wool, honey
• budgies, goldfish

or did the dog domesticate us?
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Animal hearths

• China pig, duck, (carp?)
• India / SE Asia pig, dog, zebu cattle, chicken,
  elephant,
• water buffalo
• Iran-Afghanistan bibos cattle, sheep, goat
• Central Asia horse, bactrian camel, yak
• Middle East cat, dromedary
• Europe auroch cattle, rabbit, goose, reindeer
• Africa ass, guinea fowl
• North America turkey
• Mesoamerica dog, turkey
• Andes llama, alpaca, guinea pig

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Artificial selection for variable traits in
domesticated species
e.g. cabbages
dogs
Would Neolithic folk recognize a cauliflower or
poodle?
37
Selection for gigantism of desirable traits
French grow giant snails even bigger
Globe Mail (1999/02/04)
Zea mays from Mexican archaeological sites
10 cm
Above 2 yr-old coho Frankenfish Below 2
yr-old wild coho The Province (2001/02/16)
7500 BP 500 BP
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Domestication and agricultural technology
e.g. the tribulum - a threshing sled (flints
inserted in wooden planks) designed to separate
the grain from the chaff and straw, and break up
the straw for animal feed. Still used in some
areas of the Middle East.
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Agricultural transference in the Neolithic
crops, technology and language diffuse from hearth
barn barley
Lat. emmer
bar far (farina)
Eng.
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Agricultural transference in recent times
e.g. the grape (Vitis vinifera)
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Agricultural transferencethe Columbian
Exchange
From the Old World to the New Wheat (many
vegetables) Grapes Bananas Horses Cattle (
weeds and diseases)
From the New World to the Old Potatoes Corn
Tomatoes Squashes Peppers Tobacco Rubber Pineappl
es ( diseases?)
AD1500
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Agricultural transference tropical plantation
crops
tobacco
cacao
bananas
sugarcane
rubber
pineapples
coffee
Why? protection from co-evolved pests and
pathogens consider effects slavery and
indentured labour
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Silvicultural transference introduction of
exotic trees into Britain (AD 1600-1950)
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Biological introductions invasive species
Deliberate introductions e.g. rabbits in
Australia prickly pear in Australia and
Mediterranean starlings, pigeons and house
sparrows in North America bullfrogs in B.C.
Inadvertent introductions e.g. brown rat
(almost everywhere) knapweeds and cheatgrass in
western North America ballast stowaways
(worldwide)
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Deliberate introductionsprickly pear (Opuntia
stricta), Australia

• Introduced into Australia in 1788 to form the
  basis of a cochineal dye industry. Opuntia was
  late planted for emergency cattle fodder and as
  hedging by farmers in NSW
• Invaded huge areas of pastureland in NSW and QLD
  from 1900-1930
• Largely (but not completely) controlled by
  introduction of Cactoblastis cactorum (a moth
  from Argentina that feeds exclusively on Opuntia)
  in 1926

Graphics http//www.northwestweeds.nsw.gov.au
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Deliberate introductions American bullfrog (Rana
catesbeiana), BC

• Introduced into BC in the 1930s by frog farmers
• Spreading rapidly in SW BC (gt1 km/yr on southern
  Vancouver Island), often by deliberate
  introdcutions into backyard ponds
• Feeds on native frogs, garter snakes, etc.

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Inadvertent introductions
Many recent introductions of aquatic aliens have
resulted from release of ballast water.
Zebra mussel (Dreissina polymorpha) released
from ballast waters into the Great Lakes in 1986.
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Invasive species mitigation
B.C. woman fined for importing crabs in
suitcase Wednesday, August 13, 2008A Richmond,
B.C., woman has been fined 10,000 after pleading
guilty to importing 70 live Shanghai hairy crabs
- a delicacy in Asia and one of the world's most
invasive speciesIt's prohibited in Canada
because of its ravenous appetite that can
outcompete native species, harming the ecosystem
and the fishing industry.It also burrows into
riverbanks and dikes, causing instability and
erosion.The Shanghai hairy crab, named for its
furry claws, is also a carrier of the Oriental
lung fluke, a parasite that can cause
tuberculosis and even death in humans if
improperly cooked..The crab has been found in
Quebec, Ontario's Great Lakes area, the U.S.
eastern seaboard, California and the Columbia
River estuary in Washington state, according to
the U.S. Geological Survey Canwest News Service