Dietary plasticity and the extinction of the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)

Guiry, Eric J.; Orchard, Trevor J.; Royle, Thomas C.A.; Cheung, Christina; Yang, Dongya

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106225

Cited by 21 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 86 publications

(91 reference statements)

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“…The large range (13.8‰) of variation observed among δ 15 N of all herbivore taxa indicates that substantial variation occurred in nitrogen cycling and inputs across the region during the Late Woodland. As observed previously in maize and passenger pigeons from some of these same sites (Guiry et al 2020), among all species (except for red squirrels and ruffed grouse), there was a significant positive correlation between δ 15 N and δ 13 C (see Supplemental Table 7; Spearman's ρ test, p < 0.05), possibly reflecting the impact of Iroquoian horticultural activities on N cycling in gardened areas.…”

Section: Birdssupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Considering the above, and in line with previous studies in the area (Guiry et al 2020), we consider the δ 13 C cutoff for a "pure" C 3 -based diet (i.e., nonmaize consumer) to be ≤ −18.5‰ for species that specialize in tree mast and other nonphotosynthetic plant structures (e.g., squirrels, micromammals). Also following previous studies in the area (Guiry et al 2017;Katzenberg 1989) and elsewhere in North America (e.g., Cormie and Schwarcz 1994; adjusted for the Seuss effect, see Keeling 1979), for species that focus more on plant foliage-including deer, rabbits/hares, porcupines, and groundhogs-we consider the δ 13 C cutoff for a "pure C 3 "-based diet to be ≤ −20.0‰.…”

Section: Analytical and Interpretive Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is important to recognize that there are also some naturally occurring C 4 grasses in the study region. Due to their relatively low abundance, however, it is unlikely that consumption of these species would significantly influence patterns in faunal bone-collagen isotopic compositions (see Guiry et al 2017Guiry et al , 2020. Therefore, although recognizing that additional C 4 plants are available, we interpret δ 13 C values of faunal bone collagen as an indicator of the extent to which animals were supported by maize (higher δ 13 C), likely garden resources, or nonmaize plants (lower δ 13 C), likely nongarden resources.…”

Section: Analytical and Interpretive Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Changes to nitrogen cycling associated with human disturbances in agricultural soils could serve to increase local δ 15 N baselines (Szpak 2014). Therefore, while considering that δ 15 N changes between trophic levels, and that δ 15 N baselines can vary for many reasons, we expect elevated δ 15 N to occur in animals that consume more domestic (in this case, maize) relative to nondomestic (wild) plants (Guiry et al 2020).…”

Section: Analytical and Interpretive Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Isotopic Evidence for Garden Hunting and Resource Depression in the Late Woodland of Northeastern North America

et al. 2020

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Resource depression and garden hunting are major topics of archaeological interest, with important implications for understanding cultural and environmental change. Garden hunting is difficult to study using traditional zooarchaeological approaches, but isotopic analyses of animals may provide a marker for where and when people exploited nondomesticated animals that fed on agricultural resources. To realize the full potential of isotopic approaches for reconstructing garden hunting practices—and the impacts of agriculture on past nondomesticated animal populations more broadly—a wider range of species, encompassing many “ecological perspectives,” is needed. We use bone-collagen isotopic compositions of animals (n = 643, 23 taxa, 39 sites) associated with the Late Woodland (~AD 900−1650) in what is now southern Ontario to test hypotheses about the extent to which animals used maize, an isotopically distinctive plant central to subsistence practices of Iroquoian-speaking peoples across the region. Results show that although some taxa—particularly those that may have been hard to control—had substantial access to maize, most did not, regardless of the animal resource requirements of local populations. Our findings suggest that this isotopic approach to detecting garden hunting will be more successful when applied to smaller-scale societies.

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Section: Birdssupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Analytical and Interpretive Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Analytical and Interpretive Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Analytical and Interpretive Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Isotopic Evidence for Garden Hunting and Resource Depression in the Late Woodland of Northeastern North America

et al. 2020

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“…without adjustments for inter‐tissue trophic enrichment variables) with that of collagen preserved in archaeological and paleontological contexts, thereby opening the possibility for substantially longer, ‘deep time’ retrospectives studies (e.g. Burton et al., 2001; Guiry, Needs‐Howarth, et al, 2016; Guiry, Orchard, Royle, Cheung, & Yang, 2020; Misarti, Finney, Maschner, & Wooller, 2009; Szpak, Orchard, McKechnie, & Gröcke, 2012). These studies are particularly important because they can allow for more accurate reconstructions of preindustrial environmental conditions as well as provide detailed insights into how humans have altered ecosystem dynamics throughout the Anthropocene (Braje et al., 2017; Guiry, Beglane, et al, 2018; Guiry, Buckley, et al, 2020; Szpak, Buckley, Darwent, & Richards, 2018; Szpak et al., 2019)—both of which, in turn, can provide context for guiding future conservation policy and environmental restoration efforts (Rick & Lockwood, 2013; Swetnam, Allen, & Betancourt, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality control for modern bone collagen stable carbon and nitrogen isotope measurements

2020

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Isotopic analyses of collagen, the main protein preserved in subfossil bone and tooth, has long provided a powerful tool for the reconstruction of ancient diets and environments. Although isotopic studies of contemporary ecosystems have typically focused on more accessible tissues (e.g. muscle, hair), there is growing interest in the potential for analyses of collagen because it is often available in hard tissue archives (e.g. scales, skin, bone, tooth), allowing for enhanced long‐term retrospective studies. The quality of measurements of the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of ancient samples is subject to robust and well‐established criteria for detection of contaminants and diagenesis. Among these quality control (QC) criteria, the most widely utilized is the atomic C:N ratio (C:NAtomic), which for ancient samples has an acceptable range between 2.9 and 3.6. While this QC criterion was developed for ancient materials, it has increasingly being applied to collagen from modern tissues. Here, we use a large survey of published collagen amino acid compositions (n = 436) from 193 vertebrate species as well as recent experimental isotopic evidence from 413 modern collagen extracts to demonstrate that the C:NAtomic range used for ancient samples is not suitable for assessing collagen quality of modern and archived historical samples. For modern tissues, collagen C:NAtomic falling outside 3.00–3.30 for fish and 3.00–3.28 for mammals and birds can produce systematically skewed isotopic compositions and may lead to significant interpretative errors. These findings are followed by a review of protocols for improving C:NAtomic criteria for modern collagen extracts. Given the tremendous conservation and environmental policy‐informing potential that retrospective isotopic analyses of collagen from contemporary and archived vertebrate tissues have for addressing pressing questions about long‐term environmental conditions and species behaviours, it is critical that QC criteria tailored to modern tissues are established.

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Documenting the short‐tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) clades historically present in British Columbia, Canada, through ancient DNA analysis of archaeological specimens

Royle

Guiry

Zhang

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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The short‐tailed albatross ( Phoebastria albatrus ) is a threatened seabird whose present‐day range encompasses much of the North Pacific. Within this species, there are two genetic clades (Clades 1 and 2) that have distinctive morphologies and foraging ecologies. Due to a global population collapse in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the frequency of these clades among the short‐tailed albatross population that historically foraged off British Columbia, Canada, is unclear. To document the species' historical genetic structure in British Columbia, we applied ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis to 51 archaeological short‐tailed albatross specimens from the Yuquot site (Borden site number: DjSp‐1) that span the past four millennia. We obtained a 141 bp cytochrome b sequence from 43 of the 51 (84.3%) analyzed specimens. Analyses of these sequences indicate 40 of the specimens belong to Clade 1, while 2 belong to Clade 2. We also identified a single specimen with a novel cytochrome b haplotype. Our results indicate that during the past four millennia most of the short‐tailed albatrosses foraging near Yuquot belonged to Clade 1, while individuals from other lineages made more limited use of the area. Comparisons with the results of previous aDNA analyses of archaeological albatrosses from Japanese sites suggest the distribution of Clades 1 and 2 differed. While both albatross clades foraged extensively in the Northwest Pacific, Clade 1 albatrosses appear to have foraged along the west coast of Vancouver Island to a greater extent. Due to their differing distributions, these clades may be exposed to different threats.

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Dietary plasticity and the extinction of the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)

Cited by 21 publications

References 86 publications

Isotopic Evidence for Garden Hunting and Resource Depression in the Late Woodland of Northeastern North America

Isotopic Evidence for Garden Hunting and Resource Depression in the Late Woodland of Northeastern North America

Quality control for modern bone collagen stable carbon and nitrogen isotope measurements

Documenting the short‐tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) clades historically present in British Columbia, Canada, through ancient DNA analysis of archaeological specimens

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