Grasses (Poaceae) of Easter Island — Native and Introduced Species Diversity

Finot, Víctor L.; Marticorena, Clodomiro; Marticorena, Gloria Rojas Alicia; Barrera, Juan A.

doi:10.5772/59154

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Historical land use changes, such as extensive sheep farming from ca. 1888 to 1953 (Flenley, 1993;Hunt & Lipo, 2011), has extensively altered the flora on Rapa Nui (Finot et al, 2015). Nevertheless, our data from modern soils suggest that plants grown in nonagricultural soils can yield different isotopic results from those grown in agricultural soils and that these differences are driven by soil moisture content.…”

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confidence: 45%

“…The presence of bone and stone fishhooks also attest to the creation of tools specifically for acquiring fish (M etraux, 1940). In addition, it has been suggested that microwear patterns on prehistoric human dental enamel are consistent with seafood consumption (Polet, 2011) and petroglyphs could suggest the cultural importance of fishing (Arana, 2014 Marticorena, Rojas, & Barrera, 2015). This is of particular relevance in isotopic studies as most invasive grasses on Rapa Nui are C 4 plants in the subfamilies Chloridoideae and Panicoidae, which make up 60% of the grass species, whereas indigenous grasses were dominantly C 3 plants (Finot et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Firstly, significant environmental and land-use changes have taken place on Rapa Nui over the past millennium (Flenley, 1993;Hunt & Lipo, 2011), so most plants grown under current conditions there are unlikely to be representative of prehistoric environments. Only 40% of the current flora on Rapa Nui is indigenous and an estimated 90% of Rapa Nui is now covered by grasslands, with post-contact introduced grasses making up 80% of this Poaceae flora (Finot, Marticorena, Marticorena, Rojas, & Barrera, 2015). This is of particular relevance in isotopic studies as most invasive grasses on Rapa Nui are C 4 plants in the subfamilies Chloridoideae and Panicoidae, which make up 60% of the grass species, whereas indigenous grasses were dominantly C 3 plants (Finot et al, 2015).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, it has been suggested that microwear patterns on prehistoric human dental enamel are consistent with seafood consumption (Polet, 2011) and petroglyphs could suggest the cultural importance of fishing (Arana, 2014 Marticorena, Rojas, & Barrera, 2015). This is of particular relevance in isotopic studies as most invasive grasses on Rapa Nui are C 4 plants in the subfamilies Chloridoideae and Panicoidae, which make up 60% of the grass species, whereas indigenous grasses were dominantly C 3 plants (Finot et al, 2015). Secondly, Commendador et al (2013) showed that the Rapa Nui humans exhibited particularly high d Here, we use unique carbon and nitrogen compound-specific iso- independent from mass-balance approaches, which must assume absolute d…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only 40% of the current flora on Rapa Nui is indigenous and an estimated 90% of Rapa Nui is now covered by grasslands, with post-contact introduced grasses making up 80% of this Poaceae flora (Finot, Marticorena, Marticorena, Rojas, & Barrera, 2015). This is of particular relevance in isotopic studies as most invasive grasses on Rapa Nui are C 4 plants in the subfamilies Chloridoideae and Panicoidae, which make up 60% of the grass species, whereas indigenous grasses were dominantly C 3 plants (Finot et al, 2015). Secondly, Commendador et al (2013) showed that the Rapa Nui humans exhibited particularly high d 15 N values, an observation also noted by Fogel et al (1997).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Diet of the Prehistoric Population of Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) Shows Environmental Adaptation and Resilience

Popp¹,

Jarman²,

Larsen³

et al. 2017

Geological Society of America Abstracts With Programs

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Objectives: The Rapa Nui "ecocide" narrative questions whether the prehistoric population caused an avoidable ecological disaster through rapid deforestation and over-exploitation of natural resources. The objective of this study was to characterize prehistoric human diets to shed light on human adaptability and land use in an island environment with limited resources. Materials and methods:Materials for this study included human, faunal, and botanical remains from the archaeological sites Anakena and Ahu Tepeu on Rapa Nui, dating from c. 1400 AD to the historic period, and modern reference material. We used bulk carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses and amino acid compound specific isotope analyses (AA-CSIA) of collagen isolated from prehistoric human and faunal bone, to assess the use of marine versus terrestrial resources and to investigate the underlying baseline values. Similar isotope analyses of archaeological and modern botanical and marine samples were used to characterize the local environment.Results: Results of carbon and nitrogen AA-CSIA independently show that around half the protein in diets from the humans measured came from marine sources; markedly higher than previous estimates. We also observed higher d | I N T R O D U C T I O NRapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) is frequently used as an exemplar of human social competition and an avoidable ecological disaster, in which rapid destruction of the native palm forest had devastating consequences for the island's environment and human population (e.g., Diamond, 2005). Recent archaeological research has brought such Malthusian claims into question: the arrival of the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) shortly after the island's colonization may have extensively contributed to the palm forest's demise (Hunt, 2007) and with the use of fire the island was transformed into an agricultural landscape (Hunt & Lipo, 2006).Revised chronologies indicate settlement of Rapa Nui centuries later than previously supposed, with evidence for a more balanced use of the environment and a greater degree of human adaptability to a changing ecosystem than the "ecocide" model purports (Hunt & Lipo, 2006;Stevenson et al., 2015). Knowing past diets is crucial for understanding the impacts of human occupation on Rapa Nui. Despite the intrinsic connection between human behavior and the utilization of natural resources in this small and ecologically-constrained island environment, prehistoric diets of the native islanders are still debated and poorly understood. Dietary evidence is spatially and temporally scattered, and its quality is affected by unfavorable preservation and taphonomic transformations; thus diet has been inferred from stable isotopic compositions.Rapa Nui is a small (171 km 2 ), remote volcanic island located in the south-eastern Pacific initially colonized in the early 13 th century AD (Hunt & Lipo, 2006). Polynesian settlers introduced chicken (Gallus gallus) and the Pacific rat, but the island has no endemic mammals or land birds (Klemmer & Zizka, 1993). Int...

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contrasting

confidence: 45%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diet of the Prehistoric Population of Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) Shows Environmental Adaptation and Resilience

Popp¹,

Jarman²,

Larsen³

et al. 2017

Geological Society of America Abstracts With Programs

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Diet of the prehistoric population of Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) shows environmental adaptation and resilience

Jarman

Larsen²,

Hunt

et al. 2017

American J Phys Anthropol

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ObjectivesThe Rapa Nui “ecocide” narrative questions whether the prehistoric population caused an avoidable ecological disaster through rapid deforestation and over‐exploitation of natural resources. The objective of this study was to characterize prehistoric human diets to shed light on human adaptability and land use in an island environment with limited resources.Materials and methodsMaterials for this study included human, faunal, and botanical remains from the archaeological sites Anakena and Ahu Tepeu on Rapa Nui, dating from c. 1400 AD to the historic period, and modern reference material. We used bulk carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses and amino acid compound specific isotope analyses (AA‐CSIA) of collagen isolated from prehistoric human and faunal bone, to assess the use of marine versus terrestrial resources and to investigate the underlying baseline values. Similar isotope analyses of archaeological and modern botanical and marine samples were used to characterize the local environment.ResultsResults of carbon and nitrogen AA‐CSIA independently show that around half the protein in diets from the humans measured came from marine sources; markedly higher than previous estimates. We also observed higher δ15N values in human collagen than could be expected from the local environment.DiscussionOur results suggest highly elevated δ15N values could only have come from consumption of crops grown in substantially manipulated soils. These findings strongly suggest that the prehistoric population adapted and exhibited astute environmental awareness in a harsh environment with nutrient poor soils. Our results also have implications for evaluating marine reservoir corrections of radiocarbon dates.

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