Native American impact on past forest composition inferred from species distribution models, Chautauqua County, New York

Abstract

Little consensus surrounds the extent of Native American impacts upon tree species composition in Eastern North America, prior to European-American settlement (presettlement). Native American land-use practices (e.g., forest clearance and burning) likely altered forest composition, but the spatial extent of these alterations remains vaguely quantified. Previous research has attempted to quantify the spatial extent of clearance practices, but little research has addressed the more subtle alterations to tree species composition resulting from Native American land use. Research has also inadequately distinguished between environmental and anthropogenic controls upon tree species composition, leaving open the possibility that, instead of modifying forest composition, Native American societies instead settled where favored tree species were already present. This study employed species distribution models (SDMs) trained from tree species data within presettlement land survey records (PLSRs), in order to understand Native American impacts upon presettlement tree species composition in Chautauqua County, New York. Using historical and archaeological data, this study developed ''Native American variables'' (NAVs), which represented human accessibility to features of Iroquoian settlement. This study then modeled the distribution of tree species in relation to both environmental variables and NAVs. Notable results indicate that NAVs significantly improved the predictive performance of SDMs for mast-bearing taxa, such as oak (Quercus spp.), chestnut (Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh.), and hickory (Carya spp.). Under a simulated absence of Iroquoian settlement, the amount of ''suitable'' area in Chautauqua County decreased by 2 to 23 percentage points for five mast-bearing taxa, depending upon species and modeling procedure. Results imply that Iroquoian alterations to tree species composition covered a larger spatial extent, in comparison to previous estimates of the spatial extent of clearance practices in Iroquoian regions. Yet, the majority of forest compositional modifications occurred within 10 to 15 km of village sites. This study offers a novel methodology for quantifying Native American impacts upon past tree species composition, and suggests that Iroquoian land-use practices of the early Historic era shaped forest compositional patterns at local extents in one region of presettlement Eastern North America.

Ghosts of Cultivation Past - Native American Dispersal Legacy Persists in Tree Distribution

“…triacanthos distributions in the southern Appalachian region appear more strongly patterned by centuries-old settlement preferences than its own niche requirements. Native Americans likely transported numerous native plant species throughout the Eastern United States, and indigenous imprints on modern species distributions are widespread [ 17 , 19 , 58 , 80 ]. As such, pre-European activity may be underrated as a factor influencing modern species distributions.…”

“…These results also suggest that great caution must be exercised when correlating species distributions with current climate to assume niche requirements [ see 22 ]. Indeed, predictive models may be better parameterized with pre-settlement land surveys than putative niche requirements [ 58 ]. Suitable habitat often is defined by abiotic drivers (e.g., temperature and moisture), and the approach often works well in predicting species distributions at large scales [ 81 ].…”

Fire is a stronger driver of forest composition than logging in the boreal forest of eastern Canada

“…1b (Blais 1965;Boucher et al 2014) indicates that the natural disturbance regime is characterized by stand-replacing fires and SBO. Despite the fact that the Innu First Nation occupied the area well before arrival of the first Europeans, nothing in the ethnographic literature confirms their use of fire, contrary to other parts of northeastern North America (Tulowiecki & Larsen 2015). Although Europeans began colonizing the surrounding landscape near Qu ebec City at the end of the 17th century, settlement only started around the mid-19th century (Fig.…”

Human activities have opposing effects on distributions of narrow-ranged and widespread plant species in China

“…Range filling (RF; realized/potential range size ratio) of species in a region may increase or decrease due to anthropogenic activities. In eastern North America, distributions of multiple tree species have been shown to be associated with Native American settlements, with their probabilities of presence increased or reduced close to villages and trails (24), likely having led to greater or lower RF.…”