Fecal biomarker imprints as indicators of past human land uses: Source distinction and preservation potential in archaeological and natural archives

Zocatelli, Renata; Lavrieux, Marlène; Guillemot, Typhaine; Chassiot, Léo; Milbeau, Claude Le; Jacob, Jérémy

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2017.03.010

Cited by 37 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Analysing dung fungi alongside other proxies of animal presence, such as dung beetles, faecal biomarkers and other molecular indicators, would improve our understanding of how reliably CFS track long-term herbivore dynamics and their impacts (e.g. de Bruyn et al 2011, Smith et al 2014, Etienne et al 2015, Ortiz et al 2016, Zocatelli et al 2017. More use could also be made of historical herbivore records and ecological experiments to disentangle these relationships (Bradshaw and Mitchell 1999, Davies and Watson 2007, Bakker et al 2016.…”

Section: Understanding Coprophilous Fungal Spore Signalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dung fungi as an indicator of large herbivore dynamics in peatlands

Davies

2019

Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology

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Coprophilous fungal spores (CFS) have gained prominence in palaeoecology as a proxy for large herbivore dynamics. Dung availability is one of several factors that influences spore abundance so it is unclear how closely CFS levels track herbivore biomass. This uncertainty is particularly relevant in peat-and moorland, where grazing impacts are a recurring topic in palaeoecology and source of tension in environmental management, and where the method has yet to be tested. The current study used three ecological and conservation grazing experiments in UK peat-and moorland to study modern and recent historic relationships between grazing treatment and the abundance of three key CFS types and three pollen disturbance indicators. A total of 78 surface samples and two short peat cores were analysed. Dispersal distances are estimated to range from <10 m to tens of metres, based on significantly lower CFS abundance in exclosed than grazed plots at two sites, and similar CFS trends over the last century in short peats cores located 80 m apart at the third site. The CFS signal thus represents activity in the surrounding landscape, despite predominantly local dispersal. CFS abundance does not correspond with animal biomass when compared across the three sites, however, and pollen disturbance indicators in the peat cores matched recent historic grazing records more consistently than CFS abundance. Potential reasons for these mismatches are discussed. Quantitative inferences about large herbivore abundance

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Section: Understanding Coprophilous Fungal Spore Signalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dung fungi as an indicator of large herbivore dynamics in peatlands

Davies

2019

Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology

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“…4 N ). The increase in herbivore proxies between 1100 and 1300 CE is replicated across four different localities and two different proxies: The dung fungus Sporormiella ( 78 ) and herbivore fecal stanols ( 79 ). This spike in herbivore proxies was short lived and ceased by the time that Hemish populations numbered in the thousands ( Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 84%

Native American fire management at an ancient wildland–urban interface in the Southwest United States

Roos

Swetnam

Ferguson

et al. 2021

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

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The intersection of expanding human development and wildland landscapes—the “wildland–urban interface” or WUI—is one of the most vexing contexts for fire management because it involves complex interacting systems of people and nature. Here, we document the dynamism and stability of an ancient WUI that was apparently sustainable for more than 500 y. We combine ethnography, archaeology, paleoecology, and ecological modeling to infer intensive wood and fire use by Native American ancestors of Jemez Pueblo and the consequences on fire size, fire–climate relationships, and fire intensity. Initial settlement of northern New Mexico by Jemez farmers increased fire activity within an already dynamic landscape that experienced frequent fires. Wood harvesting for domestic fuel and architectural uses and abundant, small, patchy fires created a landscape that burned often but only rarely burned extensively. Depopulation of the forested landscape due to Spanish colonial impacts resulted in a rebound of fuels accompanied by the return of widely spreading, frequent surface fires. The sequence of more than 500 y of perennial small fires and wood collecting followed by frequent “free-range” wildland surface fires made the landscape resistant to extreme fire behavior, even when climate was conducive and surface fires were large. The ancient Jemez WUI offers an alternative model for fire management in modern WUI in the western United States, and possibly other settings where local management of woody fuels through use (domestic wood collecting) coupled with small prescribed fires may make these communities both self-reliant and more resilient to wildfire hazards.

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“…A principal goal of environmental research using fecal steroids has been recognizing human waste in modern water bodies (Leeming et al 2015;Vane et al 2010), or identifying human settlement/behavior in the context of archaeological investigations (Bull et al 2001;Prost et al 2017;Schroeter et al 2020;Zocatelli et al 2017). Elevated concentration of coprostanol (in isolation, or a ratio) is taken as evidence for the presence of human fecal matter (Bull et al 2002;Liebezeit and Wöstmann 2010).…”

Section: Characterization Of Major Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fecal steroids as a potential tool for conservation paleobiology in East Africa

et al. 2021

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Conservation paleobiology seeks to leverage proxy reconstructions of ecological communities and environmental conditions to predict future changes and inform management decisions. Populations of East African megafauna likely changed during the Holocene in response to trends and events in the regional hydroclimate, but reconstructing these populations requires development of new proxies. We examine if fecal steroids are a viable proxy for megafauna populations since they are well preserved in sedimentary archives. We measured eleven fecal steroids in 87 fresh dung samples representing 22 species of megafauna in the Maasai Mara National Reserve (Kenya) and a further seven samples from captive animals. Using this reference library, four distinctive groups are identified, which reflect diet and biochemical modification of these inputs during digestion by the gut microbiome. Carnivore dung is characterized by more than ~ 75% cholesterol and primate dung includes uniquely high proportions of coprostanol. Two groups of herbivore are distinguished by their differing proportions of phytosterols that are consumed by eating plants and 5β-stanols produced during digestion. Under cross validation a random forests statistical model accurately classified 72% of dung samples to the species level using fecal steroids. Variability among individuals and between wild and captive animals suggests that fecal steroids in herbivore dung may reflect diversity and variability in diet, while a lack of variability in carnivore dung indicates that they cannot be identified to the species level in most instances. Our results suggest that fecal steroids may have utility in reconstructing the time-evolving composition megafauna populations in East Africa.

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Fecal biomarker imprints as indicators of past human land uses: Source distinction and preservation potential in archaeological and natural archives

Cited by 37 publications

References 53 publications

Dung fungi as an indicator of large herbivore dynamics in peatlands

Dung fungi as an indicator of large herbivore dynamics in peatlands

Native American fire management at an ancient wildland–urban interface in the Southwest United States

Fecal steroids as a potential tool for conservation paleobiology in East Africa

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