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Restructuring of nutrient flows in island ecosystems following human colonization evidenced by isotopic analysis of commensal rats

2018; National Academy of Sciences; Volume: 115; Issue: 25 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1073/pnas.1805787115

1091-6490

Jillian Swift, Patrick Roberts, Nicole Boivin, Patrick Vinton Kirch,

Archaeology and ancient environmental studies

Significance The arrival of humans and human-introduced species to Pacific islands resulted in significant, long-lasting transformations to local ecosystems. However, direct measurements of deep-time human effects can be difficult to quantify from archaeological datasets. Isotopically reconstructed diet of the Pacific rat ( Rattus exulans ), a commensal species introduced by humans during one of the most dramatic archaeological examples of past human migration and ecosystem alteration, can provide insight into resource availability and utilization within the human-commensal niche. Our results highlight significant long-term restructuring of nutrient flows through ecosystems resulting from human arrival and subsequent land use on three Polynesian islands. We also demonstrate that stable isotope analysis of often-ignored commensal taxa represents a tool for tracking human activities and ecosystem effects more broadly.