Human-wildlife competition and the passenger pigeon: Population growth from system destabilization

Neumann, Thomas

doi:10.1007/bf01531152

Cited by 21 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Furthermore, the bird's dependence on large flocks (12,13) could have exacerbated its vulnerability to predation following years of inadequate food supply, thereby reducing population minima further (2). It has also been argued that European immigrants contributed to an outbreak in the numbers of passenger pigeons by providing them with supplementary food resources (e.g., agricultural crops) or releasing them from competition (for mast) and hunting pressures from Native Americans (38,39).…”

Section: Environmental Conditions In the Past Support Large Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Drastic population fluctuations explain the rapid extinction of the passenger pigeon

Hung¹,

Shaner²,

Zink

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

147

124

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To assess the role of human disturbances in species' extinction requires an understanding of the species population history before human impact. The passenger pigeon was once the most abundant bird in the world, with a population size estimated at 3-5 billion in the 1800s; its abrupt extinction in 1914 raises the question of how such an abundant bird could have been driven to extinction in mere decades. Although human exploitation is often blamed, the role of natural population dynamics in the passenger pigeon's extinction remains unexplored. Applying high-throughput sequencing technologies to obtain sequences from most of the genome, we calculated that the passenger pigeon's effective population size throughout the last million years was persistently about 1/10,000 of the 1800's estimated number of individuals, a ratio 1,000-times lower than typically found. This result suggests that the passenger pigeon was not always super abundant but experienced dramatic population fluctuations, resembling those of an "outbreak" species. Ecological niche models supported inference of drastic changes in the extent of its breeding range over the last glacial-interglacial cycle. An estimate of acorn-based carrying capacity during the past 21,000 y showed great year-to-year variations. Based on our results, we hypothesize that ecological conditions that dramatically reduced population size under natural conditions could have interacted with human exploitation in causing the passenger pigeon's rapid demise. Our study illustrates that even species as abundant as the passenger pigeon can be vulnerable to human threats if they are subject to dramatic population fluctuations, and provides a new perspective on the greatest human-caused extinction in recorded history

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Section: Environmental Conditions In the Past Support Large Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For modern-day acorn production, we used the minimum, median, or maximum acorn production by red oaks or white oaks from published data collected across multiple sites and years (30,31). Daily consumption of 30 acorns per pigeon was assumed (8,38).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Drastic population fluctuations explain the rapid extinction of the passenger pigeon

Hung¹,

Shaner²,

Zink

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

147

124

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The same argument would apply to the passenger pigeon, a native bird which became massively invasive in the agricultural landscape of the early nineteenth century (Neumann 1985). ''They had voracious appetites and would descend on forests and farmland like locusts, wiping them clean of nuts, acorns, berries, grains, insects, snails and worms'' (Reeve 2001).…”

Section: Economic Harmmentioning

confidence: 89%

Environmental Harm: Political not Biological

Sagoff

2008

J Agric Environ Ethics

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“…These topics are addressed for passenger pigeon remains present at prehistoric archaeological sites in the northeastern (Neumann 1985) and southeastern (Jackson 2005) United States. Both reports model the archaeological presence of passenger pigeons within an ecological framework, consider changes in pigeon and human populations, and explore how changes in prehistoric and historic human use such as large-scale land clearance and agriculture possibly influenced passenger pigeon population size and distribution across the country.…”

Section: Data Methods and Taxonomiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Digital 3D Scanning to Create “Artifictions” of the Passenger Pigeon and Harelip Sucker, Two Extinct Species in Eastern North America: The Future Examines the Past

Manzano

Means

Begley

et al. 2015

EBL

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The Virtual Curation Laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University created 3D representations of digital morphological models, termed “artifictions,” of several bone elements from two extinct animals, the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius Linnaeus Columbidae) and the harelip sucker (Moxostoma lacerum Jordan and Brayton Catostomidae). Procuring recent comparative reference skeletons these species is extremely difficult. The creation of artifictions, 3D printed replicas of skeletal remains, aims to help researchers become familiar with the bones of harelip sucker and passenger pigeon to facilitate morphological identification of remains of these species within archaeological assemblages. Here, we discuss the two species, the techniques used to create digital topological models of individual skeletal elements, and the obstacles encountered regarding 3D printed artifictions in zooarchaeology.

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Human-wildlife competition and the passenger pigeon: Population growth from system destabilization

Cited by 21 publications

References 11 publications

Drastic population fluctuations explain the rapid extinction of the passenger pigeon

Drastic population fluctuations explain the rapid extinction of the passenger pigeon

Environmental Harm: Political not Biological

Using Digital 3D Scanning to Create “Artifictions” of the Passenger Pigeon and Harelip Sucker, Two Extinct Species in Eastern North America: The Future Examines the Past

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