Can salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) be identified to species using vertebral morphometrics?

Huber, Harriet R.; Jorgensen, Jeffrey C.; Butler, Virginia L.; Baker, Greg; Stevens, Rebecca

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.08.020

Cited by 31 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 23 publications

(33 reference statements)

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“…Species distinctions are critical to separate salmon from trout and other salmonids, because although some other members of this family are anadromous, they do not typically form the extensive and massive spawning runs that make salmon such an exceptional resource (6,20). Additionally, salmon species differ in habitat requirements, run timing and abundance, and body size and fat content, all of which have implications for understanding past human land use and subsistence strategies (18,19,21,22). aDNA analysis provides more accurate identifications of fish remains, and has recently been successfully applied to fish assemblages from Holocene archaeological sites in the Pacific Northwest of North America (18,19,23,24).…”

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confidence: 99%

Early human use of anadromous salmon in North America at 11,500 y ago

Halffman

Potter

McKinney

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Salmon represented a critical resource for prehistoric foragers along the North Pacific Rim, and continue to be economically and culturally important; however, the origins of salmon exploitation remain unresolved. Here we report 11,500-y-old salmon associated with a cooking hearth and human burials from the Upward Sun River Site, near the modern extreme edge of salmon habitat in central Alaska. This represents the earliest known human use of salmon in North America. Ancient DNA analyses establish the species as Oncorhynchus keta (chum salmon), and stable isotope analyses indicate anadromy, suggesting that salmon runs were established by at least the terminal Pleistocene. The early use of this resource has important implications for Paleoindian land use, economy, and expansions into northwest North America.

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confidence: 99%

Early human use of anadromous salmon in North America at 11,500 y ago

Halffman

Potter

McKinney

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Fish vertebral morphometrics are routinely reported in the archaeological fishing literature outside of the Pacific Islands, given the ubiquity of vertebrae in cultural deposits and their use for reconstructing fish length and weight based on specific measurements (e.g., Desse and Desse-Berset 1996c;Enghoff 1994;Gobalet 1989;Huber et al 2011). Yet, in…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent changes to Pacific fish bone taxonomic identification protocols are starting to reflect global trends, including the introduction of comprehensive vertebrae analysis (e.g., Huber et al 2011). Given the increasing demand for high-quality archaeological faunal analyses for archaeology and to inform modern conservation and management strategies, it is paramount that Pacific ichthyoarchaeologists continue to use all elements for taxonomic identification.…”

Section: Element Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…in Pacific Northwest prehistory, morphometric measures have been used to facilitate species-level identifications of vertebrae (Huber et al 2011; but see .…”

Section: Identification Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By analysing elements from the entire fish skeleton, differential preservation and processing/ butchering of fish can be more accurately inferred. The application of archaeological vertebrae analysis has been further developed outside the Pacific, with a focus on the use of morphometrics for size reconstructions and taxonomic identifications (e.g., Desse-Berset and Desse 2008;Huber et al 2011). In the Pacific fishing literature there has been a trend towards completing morphometrics of unidentified fish vertebrae to ascertain broad changes in fish size over time (e.g., Jones and Quinn 2009;.…”

Section: Benefits Of Vertebraementioning

confidence: 99%

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Sustained prehistoric exploitation of a Marshall Islands fishery: ichthyoarchaeological approaches, marine resource use, and human-environment interactions on Ebon Atoll

Lambrides¹

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Atolls are often characterised in terms of the environmental constraints and challenges these landscapes impose on sustained habitation, including: nutrient-poor soils and salt laden winds that impede plant growth, lack of perennial surface fresh water, limited terrestrial biodiversity, and vulnerability to extreme weather events and inundation since most atolls are only 2-3 m above sea level. Yet, on Ebon Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands in eastern Micronesia, the oceanside and lagoonside intertidal marine environments are expansive, with the reef area four times larger than the land area, supporting a diverse range of taxa. Given the importance of finfish resources in the Pacific, and specifically Ebon, this provided an ideal context for evaluating methods and methodological approaches for conducting Pacific ichthyoarchaeological analyses, and based on this assessment, implement high resolution and globally recognised approaches to investigate the spatial and temporal variation in the Ebon marine fishery. Variability in landscape use, alterations in the range of taxa captured, archaeological proxies of past climate stability, and the comparability of archaeological and ecological datasets were considered. Utilising a historical ecology approach, this thesis provides an analysis of the exploitation of the Ebon marine fishery from initial settlement to the historic period-two millennia of continuous occupation.The thesis demonstrated the importance of implementing high resolution methods and methodologies when considering long-term human interactions with marine fisheries. Improving methods and data quality of Pacific fishing studies included using vertebral morphometrics for fish size reconstructions and the utilisation of all cranial and postcranial remains for taxonomic identifications. Spatial analysis of habitation sites spread across three islets representing the windward-leeward gradient indicated that marine environments local to each site were not influencing taxonomic composition, but the variability in richness and evenness identified is likely a reflection of fishing technology and site function. There was no indication of significant human impact to the inshore reef taxa, which may be a reflection of the flexible foraging strategies implemented and the resilience and structure of these marine environments. As such, the shifts in the relative abundance of skipjack (K. pelamis) in the archaeological sites were attributed to the potential influence of ENSO variability over the last two millennia.With the implementation of these comprehensive methods and the use of historical ecology as a conceptual framework the range of research questions that could be explored was expanded.Consequently, this thesis was able to address some of these questions, including: the identification of variability in foraging practices across small spatial scales, the usefulness of ichthyoarchaeological data for tracking environmental stability, and distinguishing between changes ii in resource availability and s...

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