Insularity and early domestication: anthropogenic ecosystems as habitat islands

Spengler, Robert N.

doi:10.1111/oik.09549

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 127 publications

(173 reference statements)

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“…We further infer that: (1) when hand-reared, socialized, human-selected wolf pups reached sexual maturity they often would have reverted to the wild to breed, although some could have mated in captivity; (2) the dispersing socialized wolves commonly formed mated pairs with each other, but sometimes with wild Pleistocene wolves; the former would have most commonly established their territory in a liminal zone situated between human settlement sites (anthropogenic habitat “islands”; cf. Spengler, 2022 ) and the environment inhabited by strictly wild-living wolves, which had a natural fear of humans and actively avoided them; (3) consequently, the socialized canids often denned and whelped in the liminal zone close to human camp sites and hence each new generation of wild-born pups humans took from dens located close to their camps would include some (or many) of the offspring of human-selected canids.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Probably, humans choose for a specific segment of the wild wolf population ( cf. Spengler, 2022 ). Indeed, recent studies have shown that human-directed attachment behaviors likely existed as standing variation within Pleistocene wolf populations ( Hansen Wheat et al, 2022 ).…”

Section: The Human-initiated Model Of Wolf Domesticationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, we can think of dens used by “re-wilded” socialized wolves in the vicinity of human settlement sites, which can be considered as anthropogenic habitat “islands” ( cf. Spengler, 2022 ), as being in a liminal zone between the environment inhabited by strictly wild-living (unsocialized) wolves and the camp sites occupied by humans.…”

Section: Implications Of Human-dingo Relations For Wolf Domesticationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The human-initiated model of wolf domestication – An expansion based on human-dingo relations in Aboriginal Australia

2023

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The historically known relationship of interspecies companionship between Aboriginal foraging communities in Australia and free-ranging dingoes provides a model for understanding the human-canid relations that gave rise to the first domesticated dogs. Here, we propose that a broadly similar relationship might have developed early in time between wild-living wolves and mobile groups of foragers in Late Pleistocene Eurasia, with hunter-gatherers routinely raiding wild wolf dens for pre-weaned pups, which were socialized to humans and kept in camp as tamed companions (“pets”). We outline a model in which captive wolf pups that reverted to the wild to breed when they were sexually mature established their territories in the vicinity of foraging communities — in a “liminal” ecological zone between humans and truly wild-living wolves. Many (or most) of the wolf pups humans took from the wilderness to rear in camp may have derived from these liminal dens where the breeding pairs had been under indirect human selection for tameness over many generations. This highlights the importance of the large seasonal hunting/aggregation camps associated with mammoth kill-sites in Gravettian/Epigravettian central Europe. Large numbers of foragers gathered regularly at these locations during the wild wolf birthing season. We infer that if a pattern of this kind occurred over long periods of time then there might have been a pronounced effect on genetic variation in free-ranging wolves that denned and whelped in the liminal zones in the vicinity of these human seasonal aggregation sites. The argument is not that wolves were domesticated in central Europe. Rather, it is this pattern of hunter-gatherers who caught and reared wild wolf pups gathering seasonally in large numbers that might have been the catalyst for the early changes leading to the first domesticated dogs — whether in western Eurasia or further afield.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Human-initiated Model Of Wolf Domesticationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications Of Human-dingo Relations For Wolf Domesticationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The human-initiated model of wolf domestication – An expansion based on human-dingo relations in Aboriginal Australia

2023

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“…An alternative hypothesis is that the wild progenitors of crops were physiologically distinct. Indeed, crop domestication may have already started with distinctive wild species, as proto-farmers may have consciously or unconsciously selected for cultivation wild species with particular traits [9][10][11][12] . However, the relative importance of 'early human selection' vs. 'evolution under cultivation' to explain the fast physiological rates of crops is largely unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early human selection of crops’ wild progenitors explains the acquisitive physiology of modern cultivars

Gómez-Fernández,

Aranda,

Milla

2024

Nat. Plants

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Crops have resource-acquisitive leaf traits, which is usually attributed to the process of domestication. However, early choices of wild plants amenable for domestication may also have played a key role in the evolution of crops' physiological traits. We compiled data on 1,034 annual herbs to place the ecophysiological traits of 69 crops' wild progenitors in the context of global botanical variation, and conducted a common-garden experiment to measure the effects of domestication on crop ecophysiology. Our study found that crops' wild progenitors already had high leaf nitrogen, photosynthesis, conductance, transpiration, and soft leaves. After domestication, ecophysiological traits varied little and in idiosyncratic ways. Crops did not surpass the trait boundaries of wild species. Overall, the resource-acquisitive strategy of crops is largely due to the inheritance from their wild progenitors rather than to further breeding improvements. Our study concurs with recent literature highlighting constraints of crop breeding for faster ecophysiological traits.

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“…Selection for desirable traits, those advantageous to cultivation, consumption, or storage, may result in a product recognizable as a land race or cultivar (Sauer, 1965;Innan and Kim, 2004;Sun et al, 2022). This traditional domestication paradigm, which implies a single propagule collection, transport, founder and habitat exposure event over a relatively short time period has been recently challenged (McKey et al, 2010;Larson et al, 2014;Spengler, 2022), especially for cereals (Allaby et al, 2021). Instead of a unified and localized process, it is argued that domestication arises from interacting metapopulations, facilitated by cultural connectivity across a landscape of diverse natural, disturbed, and cultivated habitat conditions.…”

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confidence: 99%

Evidence for human‐caused founder effect in populations of Solanum jamesii at archaeological sites: II. Genetic sequencing establishes ancient transport across the Southwest USA

Pavlik,

del Rio,

Bamberg

et al. 2024

American J of Botany

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PremiseThe domestication of wild plant species can begin with gathering and transport of propagules by Indigenous peoples. The effect on genomic composition, especially in clonal, self‐incompatible perennials would be instantaneous and drastic with respect to new, anthropogenic populations subsequently established. Reductions in genetic diversity and mating capability would be symptomatic and the presence of unique alleles and genetic sequences would reveal the origins and ancestry of populations associated with archaeological sites. The current distribution of the Four Corners potato, Solanum jamesii Torr. in the Southwestern USA, may thus reflect the early stages of a domestication process that began with tuber transport.MethodsHerein genetic sequencing (GBS) data are used to further examine the hypothesis of domestication in this culturally significant species by sampling 25 archaeological and non‐archaeological populations.ResultsArchaeological populations from Utah, Colorado and northern Arizona have lower levels of polymorphic loci, unique alleles, and heterozygosity than non‐archaeological populations from the Mogollon region of central Arizona and New Mexico. Principle components analysis, Fst values, and structure analysis revealed that genetic relationships among archaeological populations did not correspond to geographic proximity. Populations in Escalante, Utah were related to those on the Mogollon Rim (400 km south) and had multiple origins and significant disjunctions with those populations in Bears Ears, Chaco Canyon, and Mesa Verde sites.ConclusionsMovement of tubers from the Mogollon region may have occurred many times and in multiple directions during the past, resulting in the complex genetic patterns seen in populations from across the Four Corners region.

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Insularity and early domestication: anthropogenic ecosystems as habitat islands

Cited by 5 publications

References 127 publications

The human-initiated model of wolf domestication – An expansion based on human-dingo relations in Aboriginal Australia

The human-initiated model of wolf domestication – An expansion based on human-dingo relations in Aboriginal Australia

Early human selection of crops’ wild progenitors explains the acquisitive physiology of modern cultivars

Evidence for human‐caused founder effect in populations of Solanum jamesii at archaeological sites: II. Genetic sequencing establishes ancient transport across the Southwest USA

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