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Human occupation and ecosystem change on Upolu (Samoa) during the Holocene

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dc.contributor.author Gosling, William D.
dc.contributor.author Sear, David A.
dc.contributor.author Hassall, Jonathan D
dc.contributor.author ..et.al.
dc.date.accessioned 2021-12-01T02:16:33Z
dc.date.available 2021-12-01T02:16:33Z
dc.date.issued 2020
dc.identifier.citation DOI: 10.1111/jbi.13783 en_US
dc.identifier.uri ${sadil.baseUrl}/handle/123456789/867
dc.description Research article, maps, tables, figures, diagram, data ; 15 p. en_US
dc.description.abstract To track the peopling of the South Pacific and assess their impact on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Location: Upolu, Samoa. Taxon: Terrestrial and aquatic plants. Methods: A sedimentary record covering the last c. 10,500 years was recovered from the volcanic crater that contains Lake Lanoto'o near the centre of Upolu Island. Information on past ecological change was obtained from microscopic and macroscopic remains extracted from the sediments: charcoal (fire history), pollen/ spores and plant remains (vegetation history), and lake status (algae/cyanobacteria). Information on the depositional environment and climate was obtained from geochemical and sedimentary analysis: loss-on-ignition (sediment composition), cryptotephras (volcanic eruptions) and precipitation regime (Ti/inc). The environmental history developed was compared with the archaeological record from the region. Results: Charcoal material was found in the Lake Lanoto'o sediments at higher abundances and more frequently in samples from the period after the first archaeological evidence of people on Upolu (c. 2900–2700 years ago). No abrupt shift is recognized in the vegetation or aquatic ecosystem assemblages coincident with the arrival of people on the island. Main conclusions: Macrocharcoal is demonstrated to be an effective proxy for detecting human occupation of Upolu around 2,800 years ago. The immediate impact of these settlers on the vegetation seems to have been minimal; however, a subsequent opening up of the landscape is suggested through the gradual increase in ferns. The absence of any significant change in the aquatic community associated with, or after, the arrival of people on the islands suggests that humans rarely visited the lake. We suggest that on Upolu a simple model of decreasing human impact away from coastal areas is applicable en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher John Wiley Journal of Biogeography en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries Journal of Biogeography. 2020;47:600–614.
dc.subject algae en_US
dc.subject aquatic en_US
dc.subject charcoal en_US
dc.subject cyanobacterian en_US
dc.subject fire en_US
dc.subject Pacific en_US
dc.subject pollen en_US
dc.subject Polynesia en_US
dc.subject vegetation en_US
dc.subject terrestrial en_US
dc.title Human occupation and ecosystem change on Upolu (Samoa) during the Holocene en_US
dc.type Article en_US


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