Abstract:
:The remains of northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) are among the most abundant of pinniped elements recovered from mainland coastal archaeological sites in both California and Oregon. This is surprising as all contemporary northern fur seals breed exclusively on offshore islands, primarily at high latitudes, and the species is otherwise pelagic. The vulnerability of these animals to human predation suggests that either humans were foraging much further offshore than has been presumed or alternatively that the ecology of these animals has shifted during the late Holocene. We used isotopic and archaeofaunal analysis of the remains of pinnipeds from the middle to late Holocene of central and northern California to clarify the breeding and foraging behavior, and migration patterns of these ancient animals. The carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions of ancient northern fur seals reveal that these animals fed as far offshore as they do today, and that they remained at middle latitudes throughout the year. From an archaeological site at Moss Landing, California, we identified 16 skeletal elements from at least 12 very small northern fur seal pups. From another site near Mendocino, California, we identified the remains of at least 6 pups. We estimate the size and age of 5 of the young animals using sex-specific regressions of body length on the short dentary length derived from measurements of modern specimens. Our estimates indicate these ancient pups were substantially smaller, and therefore younger, than modern 3-month-old northern fur seal pups from similar latitudes and their nitrogen isotope compositions suggest they had not been weaned. As present-day northern fur seals do not leave their rookeries until they are at least 4 months old, we consider it highly unlikely that these ancient pups swam to these mainland locations from some distant island rookery. While there are numerous nearshore rocky outcrops along the Mendocino Coast, which may have supported small breeding colonies, the Moss Landing site is centered on a 40-km-long sandy beach, and is more than 120 km from what at the time were the nearest offshore islands. We conclude that northern fur seal adult females, subadults, and pups whose remains were recovered at the Moss Landing archaeological site must have been taken at a mainland rookery. Evidence that northern fur seals once bred on the mainland at this central California location suggests that the abundant remains of these animals at numerous other archaeological sites along the California coast also reflect the presence of nearby mainland rookeries. Based on the relative abundance of their remains in ancient human occupation sites and the widespread distribution of sites where their remains have been found, it appears that northern fur seals were once the predominant pinniped throughout a region where they now only rarely occur. Furthermore, their presence along the central and northern California coasts appears to have once severely limited the distribution of other pinnipeds, which are now common to the region.
journal_name
Oecologiajournal_title
Oecologiaauthors
Burton RK,Snodgrass JJ,Gifford-Gonzalez D,Guilderson T,Brown T,Koch PLdoi
10.1007/s004420100631subject
Has Abstractpub_date
2001-06-01 00:00:00pages
107-115issue
1eissn
0029-8549issn
1432-1939pii
10.1007/s004420100631journal_volume
128pub_type
杂志文章相关文献
OECOLOGIA文献大全abstract::We tested the deme-formation hypothesis experimentally with four populations of leaf-galling grape phylloxera, Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, and its host, canyon grape (Vitis arizonica). An experiment designed to examine preference and performance showed that phylloxera populations did not significantly prefer their orig...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/BF00333948
更新日期:1996-09-01 00:00:00
abstract::Genets of Trifolium repens (white clover) were collected from three patches of old permanent pasture dominated by Agrostis capillaris, Holcus lanatus or Lolium perenne. Plants derived from the genets were grown with plants of one grass species present on one side of each T. repens, and a different grass species on the...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/BF00317530
更新日期:1991-04-01 00:00:00
abstract::Climate plays a fundamental role in limiting the range of a species, is a key factor in the dynamics of large herbivores, and is thought to be involved in declines of moose populations in recent decades. We examined effects of climate and growing-season phenology on recruitment (8-9 months old) of young Shiras moose (...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-015-3296-4
更新日期:2015-08-01 00:00:00
abstract::Spatiotemporal patchiness in the soil environment is thought to be crucial for the maintenance of soil biodiversity. It provides diverse microhabitats (allowing resource partitioning), and presents these in a complex mosaic, such that competitors may be spatially and temporally separated (promoting patch dynamics). Th...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s004420000468
更新日期:2000-11-01 00:00:00
abstract::(1) Wars between colonies of the red wood ant, Formica polyctena (Foerst.), are very common in the study area, a dune valley near The Hague, The Netherlands. In an extensive study Mabelis (1979) has put forward a hypothesis that explains the occurrence of wars in terms of protein supply in periods of insufficient prey...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/BF00379779
更新日期:1984-07-01 00:00:00
abstract::Forest destruction and disturbance can have long-term consequences for species diversity and ecosystem processes such as seed dispersal. Understanding these consequences is a crucial component of conserving vulnerable ecosystems. In the heavily fragmented and disturbed Kakamega Forest, western Kenya, we studied seed d...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-005-0288-9
更新日期:2006-03-01 00:00:00
abstract::We have been releasing economically unimportant herbivorous mites of one species early in the season and protecting grapevines against another, more damaging herbivorous mite throughout the growing season. In this experiment, releases of economically unimportant Willamette mites alone, or of predatory mites alone, fai...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/BF00325889
更新日期:1994-05-01 00:00:00
abstract::Morphological relationships change with overall body size and body size often varies among populations. Therefore, quantitative analyses of individual traits from organisms in different populations or environments (e.g., in studies of phenotypic plasticity) often adjust for differences in body size to isolate changes ...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-006-0403-6
更新日期:2006-07-01 00:00:00
abstract::Invasion of non-native annuals across the Intermountain West is causing a widespread transition from perennial sagebrush communities to fire-prone annual herbaceous communities and grasslands. To determine how this invasion affects ecosystem function, carbon and water fluxes were quantified in three, paired sagebrush ...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-005-0231-0
更新日期:2006-01-01 00:00:00
abstract::The dependence of leaf water potential (Ψ), osmotic potential (π) and turgor pressure (P) on relative water content (RWC) was determined for leaves of tall and short growth forms of Spartina alterniflora Loisel. from a site on Canary Creek marsh in Lewes, Delaware. Tall plants (ca. 1.5 m) occured along a drainage ditc...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/BF00384269
更新日期:1984-06-01 00:00:00
abstract::The great majority of Eucalyptus spp. are facultative resprouters, and they dominate the eucalypt forests of Australia. Despite this numeric and geographic dominance, there is a general lack of knowledge of their capacity for carbon capture and water loss during canopy reinstation. After a crown-removing fire, we meas...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-014-3032-5
更新日期:2014-10-01 00:00:00
abstract::Calcium is an essential micronutrient for birds during egg formation and for skeletal development in nestlings. Habitat level studies suggest that birds breeding in low-calcium areas may be limited in the size or number of eggs they lay and in the quality of their nestlings. However, as birds forage non-randomly and m...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-008-1222-8
更新日期:2009-03-01 00:00:00
abstract::Natural regeneration of abandoned farmland provides an important opportunity to contribute to global reforestation targets, including the Bonn Challenge. Of particular importance are the montane tropics, where a long history of farming, frequently on marginal soils, has rendered many ecosystems highly degraded and hot...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-019-04497-8
更新日期:2019-10-01 00:00:00
abstract::Natal philopatry and recruitment were measured in two populations of willow ptarmigan; one near Churchill, Manitoba and the other in northwestern British Columbia. We examined the return of tagged offspring in subsequent years with respect to geographical area, annual variation, their age when tagged, their sex, their...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/BF00379290
更新日期:1987-03-01 00:00:00
abstract::In indeterminate plant species, the rate of vegetative growth usually declines during the stage of active reproductive growth. Fruit shedding, as induced by insect herbivores, could counteract this decline. Due to the relative increase in vegetative growth, plants that have suffered reproductive damage could be better...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s004420050102
更新日期:1997-02-01 00:00:00
abstract::Two physiological races of the carabid beetle, Pterostichus nigrita, are compared. The larvae from the northern Scandinavian population (polar circle) develop faster in all temperature regimens, have a reduced mortality in lower temperatures and an increased growth rate in high temperatures compared with the central E...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/BF00377589
更新日期:1975-03-01 00:00:00
abstract::Life history theory predicts that migratory fishes should delay reproduction, be larger at first reproduction, and have higher fecundities than nonmigrants. We tested this hypothesis by comparing life histories of anadromous ("estuary") and resident freshwater ("upstream") threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeat...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/BF00329764
更新日期:1990-10-01 00:00:00
abstract::Variation in body size (weight) is examined across the order Carnivora in relation to taxonomy (phylogeny), latitude, habitat, zonation, activity cycle, diet, prey size, and prey diversity. Significant differences in body weight are observed with respect to family membership. Some of these differences may be explained...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/BF00790026
更新日期:1985-12-01 00:00:00
abstract::We explored whether a variation in predation and habitat complexity between conspecific populations can drive qualitatively different numerical dynamics in those populations. We considered two disjunct populations of the least killifish, Heterandria formosa, that exhibit long-term differences in density, top fish pred...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-005-0306-y
更新日期:2006-04-01 00:00:00
abstract::Aspects of the demography of Monhystera disjuncta were investigated at different temperatures (in agnotobiotic cultures) and in different feeding conditions (monoxenic cultures with different bacterial strains, and different densities in the feeding suspension with one strain). Embryonic development time, minimum gene...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/BF00378033
更新日期:1988-11-01 00:00:00
abstract::How pathogens affect their hosts is a key question in infectious disease ecology, and it can have important influences on the spread and persistence of the pathogen. Sin Nombre virus (SNV) is the etiological agent of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in humans. A better understanding of SNV in its reservoir host, th...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-011-2219-2
更新日期:2012-06-01 00:00:00
abstract::This paper investigates the effect of brood parasitism in a dung beetle assemblage in an arid region of Spain. The study was conducted during the spring season (March-May 1994-1998) using mesh cylinders buried into the ground, filled with sand and with sheep dung on top. We quantified the proportion of nests containin...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-002-1100-8
更新日期:2003-01-01 00:00:00
abstract::Ovipositing females of the cynipid waspPseudeucoila bochei discriminate between parasitized and unparasitized hosts, which results in a far more uniform distribution of eggs over the hosts than would be obtained if oviposition were random (Fig. 1,a 0-f 0).For the description of the distributions a few models were work...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/BF00822760
更新日期:1972-03-01 00:00:00
abstract::Predation pressure and resource availability often interact in structuring herbivore communities, with their relative influence varying in space and time. The operation of multiple ecological pressures and guild-specific herbivore responses may combine to override simple predictions of how the roles of plant quality a...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-010-1750-x
更新日期:2010-12-01 00:00:00
abstract::Local adaptation and population differentiation of plants are well documented, but studies on interactions with natural enemies are rare. In particular, evidence for plant adaptation to the local biotic environment, such as herbivores remains poor. We used the black mustard Brassica nigra, an annual species of river v...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-010-1798-7
更新日期:2011-04-01 00:00:00
abstract::Short-term responses of producers highlight that key nutrients (e.g., N, P)-or combinations of these nutrients-limit primary production in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. These discoveries continue to provide highly valuable insights, but it remains important to ask whether nutrients always predominantly limit pro...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-007-0948-z
更新日期:2008-04-01 00:00:00
abstract::In both single- and mixed-species social groups, certain participants are known to play important roles in providing benefits. Identifying these participants is critical for understanding group dynamics, but is often difficult with large roving social groups in the wild. Here, we develop a new approach to characterize...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s00442-014-3045-0
更新日期:2014-11-01 00:00:00
abstract::Competition for space is an important process on tropical coral reefs. Few studies have examined the role sponges play in community structure despite the fact that many sponges are competitively superior to reef-building corals in space acquisition. Surveys conducted throughout the Florida Keys indicated that Chondril...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/s004420050642
更新日期:1998-11-01 00:00:00
abstract::Fine root extractions from soil cores of a south facing slope in the Southern Californian chaparral were used to study the dynamics of feeder root growth in a summer-dry area. The studies were concentrated on the root systems of Adenostoma fasciculatum, Arctostaphylos glauca, Ceanothus greggii, and Rhus ovata. The tot...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/BF00344991
更新日期:1978-01-01 00:00:00
abstract::Data from the US/IBP Desert Biome validation studies indicate that above-ground production and biomass allocated to reproduction in Larrea tridentata vary from one year to another depending upon the timing and extent of soil-moisture availability. In an attempt to verify these observations and determine to what extent...
journal_title:Oecologia
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1007/BF00347929
更新日期:1979-01-01 00:00:00