Towards a science of archaeoecology

Crabtree, Stefani A.; Dunne, Jennifer A.

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2022.07.010

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Today, the Santa Fe Institute connects a global network of scientists that are seeking a better understanding of complex systems and plays a key role in popularizing CSS within and outside of academia. Principles from CSS have been instrumental in meta-science ( 46 ), mathematics ( 47 ), physics ( 29 ), medicine ( 48 ), sociology ( 49 ), archeology ( 50 ), economy ( 51 ), social management ( 52 ), and computer science ( 53 ), among many other disciplines. Ecology is one of those disciplines, and it has been argued that CSS can provide important answers to many current environmental crises faced by humanity ( 21 – 23 ).…”

Section: A Brief History Of Complex System Science (Css)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a cohesive understanding of ecological complexity

et al. 2023

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Ecological systems are quintessentially complex systems. Understanding and being able to predict phenomena typical of complex systems is, therefore, critical to progress in ecology and conservation amidst escalating global environmental change. However, myriad definitions of complexity and excessive reliance on conventional scientific approaches hamper conceptual advances and synthesis. Ecological complexity may be better understood by following the solid theoretical basis of complex system science (CSS). We review features of ecological systems described within CSS and conduct bibliometric and text mining analyses to characterize articles that refer to ecological complexity. Our analyses demonstrate that the study of complexity in ecology is a highly heterogeneous, global endeavor that is only weakly related to CSS. Current research trends are typically organized around basic theory, scaling, and macroecology. We leverage our review and the generalities identified in our analyses to suggest a more coherent and cohesive way forward in the study of complexity in ecology.

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Section: A Brief History Of Complex System Science (Css)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a cohesive understanding of ecological complexity

et al. 2023

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“…In view of this serious and rapidly aggravating nature crisis engulfing our planet [8][9][10][11][12], scholars have begun to look at the past and to query disciplines such as archaeology to better understand the fundamental processes and parameters that regulate the biosphere and assure a healthy, biodiverse planetary ecosystem [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. While archaeology has indeed much to offer to ongoing debates on species conservation and extinction, rewilding, the evolution of biodiversity and the dynamic interposition of human and earth systems in general [13,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26], the discipline has equally contributed to an overall dire outlook on the relationship between human agency and the biosphere [27][28][29][30]. Facing the recognition of human societies as the single major source of biodiversity attrition on the planet today [1,2,29,31,32], framing historically unprecedented 'Anthropocene' conditions [33][34][35][36][37] and novel ecosystems [38,39] that threaten the hospitality and habitability of the Earth as a whole [40], archaeologists have started to map similar processes and their origins in the past to show that the biodiversity crisis has deep-historical roots [17...…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The human side of biodiversity: coevolution of the human niche, palaeo-synanthropy and ecosystem complexity in the deep human past

Hussain,

Baumann

2024

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Today's biodiversity crisis fundamentally threatens the habitability of the planet, thus ranking among the primary human challenges of our time. Much emphasis is currently placed on the loss of biodiversity in the Anthropocene, yet these debates often portray biodiversity as a purely natural phenomenon without much consideration of its human dimensions and frequently lack long-term vistas. This paper offers a deep-time perspective on the key role of the evolving human niche in ecosystem functioning and biodiversity dynamics. We summarize research on past hunter–gatherer ecosystem contributions and argue that human–environment feedback systems with important biodiversity consequences are probably a recurrent feature of the Late Pleistocene, perhaps with even deeper roots. We update current understandings of the human niche in this light and suggest that the formation of palaeo-synanthropic niches in other animals proffers a powerful model system to investigate recursive interactions of foragers and ecosystems. Archaeology holds important knowledge here and shows that ecosystem contributions vary greatly in relation to different human lifeways, some of which are lost today. We therefore recommend paying more attention to the intricate relationship between biodiversity and cultural diversity, contending that promotion of the former depends on fostering the latter. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Ecological novelty and planetary stewardship: biodiversity dynamics in a transforming biosphere’.

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“…Indeed, as demonstrated through its use across ecological and socioecological cases, network analyses are well suited to the ecological datasets yielded through archaeological research. It has the potential to contribute substantively to the study of past human-centered ecosystems and may serve as a powerful tool in what Crabtree and Dunne [ 30 ] call the science of “archaeocology,” the examination of the past 60,000 years of interactions between humans and ecosystems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Crabtree et al [ 30 ] provide a series of example questions that socioecological network analysis could be used to address using archaeological data. These include inquiries such as: how do the effects of hunting and gathering by humans propagate through an ecosystem?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A network approach to zooarchaeological datasets and human-centered ecosystems in southwestern Florida

Holland-Lulewicz,

Holland-Lulewicz

2023

PLoS ONE

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Zooarchaeological datasets are often large, complex, and difficult to visualize and communicate. Many visual aids and summaries often limit the patterns that can be identified and mask interpretations of relationships between contexts, species, and environmental information. The most commonly used of these often include bar charts, pie charts, and other such graphs that aid in categorizing data and highlighting the differences or similarities between categories. While such simplification is often necessary for effective communication, it can also obscure the full range of complexity of zooarchaeological datasets and the human-environment dynamics they reflect. In this paper, we demonstrate the utility of formal network graphs to capturing the complexity of zooarchaeological datasets and to effectively highlighting the kinds of relationships between contexts, time, and faunal assemblages in which zooarchaeologists are primarily interested. Using a case study from southwestern Florida (USA), we argue that network graphs provide a quick solution to visualizing the structure of zooarchaeological datasets and serve as a useful aid in interpreting patterns that represent fundamental reflections of human-centered ecosystems.

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Towards a science of archaeoecology

Cited by 11 publications

References 62 publications

Toward a cohesive understanding of ecological complexity

Toward a cohesive understanding of ecological complexity

The human side of biodiversity: coevolution of the human niche, palaeo-synanthropy and ecosystem complexity in the deep human past

A network approach to zooarchaeological datasets and human-centered ecosystems in southwestern Florida

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