How could the non-sustainable Easter Island have been sustained?

Chu, C. Y. Cyrus; Lai, Ching Chong; Liao, Chih Hsing

doi:10.1016/j.iref.2014.08.007

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Taylor (2009) also included a threshold in resource stock. Other models have considered the possibility for social adaptation either through negative changes, for example via conflict (Reuveny and Maxwell, 2001;Maxwell and Reuveny, 2005;Reuveny et al, 2011) or rivalry (de la Croix and Dottori, 2008), or through positive changes, for example by technical progress (Reuveny and Decker, 2000;Decker and Reuveny, 2005;Dalton et al, 2005), by forming resource management institutions (Dalton and Coats, 2000;Erickson and Gowdy, 2000;Pezzey and Anderies, 2003;Taylor, 2009;Chu et al, 2014), or by introducing economic stratification in the form of elites, commoners, and wealth accumulation (Motesharrei et al, 2014). All these modeling studies showed that a collapse was inevitable unless the population growth was sufficiently slow or resource renewal rate was sufficiently fast.…”

Section: Studies Focused On Socioeconomic Aspectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Models of Easter Island Human-Resource Dynamics: Advances and Gaps

Merico

2017

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Finding solutions to the entangled problems of human population growth, resource exploitation, ecosystem degradation, and biodiversity loss is considered humanity's grand challenge. Small and isolated societies of the past, such as the Rapanui of Easter Island, constitute ideal laboratories for understanding the consequences of human-driven environmental degradation and associated crises. By integrating different processes into a coherent and quantitative framework, mathematical models can be effective tools for investigating the ecological and socioeconomic history of these ancient civilizations. Most models of Easter Island are grounded around the Malthusian theory of population growth and designed as Lotka-Volterra predator-prey systems. Within ranges of plausible parameter values, these dynamic systems models predict a population overshoot and collapse sequence, in line with the ecocidal view about the Rapanui. With new archaeological evidence coming to light, casting doubts on the classical narrative of a human-induced collapse, models have begun to incorporate the new pieces of evidence and started to describe a more complex historical ecology, in line with the view of a resilient society that suffered genocide after the contact with Europeans. Uncertainties affecting the archaeological evidence contribute to the formulation of contradictory narratives. Surprisingly, no agent-based models have been applied to Easter Island. I argue that these tools offer appealing possibilities for overcoming the limits of dynamic systems models and the uncertainties in the available archaeological data.

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Section: Studies Focused On Socioeconomic Aspectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Models of Easter Island Human-Resource Dynamics: Advances and Gaps

Merico

2017

Front. Ecol. Evol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

How could the non-sustainable Easter Island have been sustained?

Cited by 1 publication

References 23 publications

Models of Easter Island Human-Resource Dynamics: Advances and Gaps

Models of Easter Island Human-Resource Dynamics: Advances and Gaps

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