Prehistoric predation of the landsnail<i>Placostylus ambagiosus</i>Suter (Stylommatophora: Bulimulidae), and evidence for the timing of establishment of rats in northernmost New Zealand

Brook, F. J.

doi:10.1080/03014223.2000.9517619

Cited by 26 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The first people arriving in New Zealand from tropical East Polynesia initiated an immediate and rapid biotic transformation that is easily detectable and consistently dated across a range of records. There is now excellent agreement between the ages of the earliest archaeological sites (25) and the earliest-dated evidence for widespread deforestation (19), massive megafaunal extinctions (4, 7), the decline of marine mammal populations (48), and rat predation on seeds (22) and invertebrates (6,46).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Dating the late prehistoric dispersal of Polynesians to New Zealand using the commensal Pacific rat

Wilmshurst

Anderson

Higham

et al. 2008

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

466

363

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The pristine island ecosystems of East Polynesia were among the last places on Earth settled by prehistoric people, and their colonization triggered a devastating transformation. Overhunting contributed to widespread faunal extinctions and the decline of marine megafauna, fires destroyed lowland forests, and the introduction of the omnivorous Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) led to a new wave of predation on the biota. East Polynesian islands preserve exceptionally detailed records of the initial prehistoric impacts on highly vulnerable ecosystems, but nearly all such studies are clouded by persistent controversies over the timing of initial human colonization, which has resulted in proposed settlement chronologies varying from Ϸ200 B.C. to 1000 A.D. or younger. Such differences underpin radically divergent interpretations of human dispersal from West Polynesia and of ecological and social transformation in East Polynesia and ultimately obfuscate the timing and patterns of this process. Using New Zealand as an example, we provide a reliable approach for accurately dating initial human colonization on Pacific islands by radiocarbon dating the arrival of the Pacific rat. Radiocarbon dates on distinctive rat-gnawed seeds and rat bones show that the Pacific rat was introduced to both main islands of New Zealand Ϸ1280 A.D., a millennium later than previously assumed. This matches with the earliest-dated archaeological sites, human-induced faunal extinctions, and deforestation, implying there was no long period of invisibility in either the archaeological or palaeoecological records.archaeological visibility ͉ colonization ͉ East Polynesia ͉ radiocarbon ͉ Rattus exulans

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…from northern New Zealand, which also show distinctive signs of rat predation began no earlier than Ϸ750 yrs BP (46).…”

Section: Dating Pacific Rat and Human Arrival By Proxy Using Rat-gnawedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dating the late prehistoric dispersal of Polynesians to New Zealand using the commensal Pacific rat

Wilmshurst

Anderson

Higham

et al. 2008

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

466

363

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This would indicate early visits from people exploring the Pacific basin, or earlier settlements yet to be discovered. However, carbon dates associated with rat-affected plant and animal remains indicate the earliest effects of Pacific rats about 750 years ago, contemporaneously with the earliest known permanent Polynesian settlements (Brook 2000;Wilmshurst and Higham 2004). These inconsistencies are yet to be resolved (Atkinson and Towns in press).…”

Section: New Zealand Case Studymentioning

confidence: 97%

Have the Harmful Effects of Introduced Rats on Islands been Exaggerated?

2006

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduced rats are now being eradicated from many islands. Increasingly, these eradications are contested by activists claiming moral, legal, cultural, historic or scientific reasons and poorly documented evidence of effects. We reviewed the global literature on the effects of rats on island flora and fauna. We then used New Zealand as a case study because of its four-decade history of rat eradications and many detailed and innovative studies of how rats affect native species. These include use of exclosures, local manipulations of rat populations, video surveillance, and measurements of responses following eradications. The most intensive studies have been on the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans), a small South-East Asian species spread by Polynesians throughout the Pacific. These and the more recently introduced Norway rat (R. norvegicus) and ship (roof) rat (R. rattus) suppress some forest plants, and are associated with extinctions or declines of flightless invertebrates, ground-dwelling reptiles, land birds, and burrowing seabirds. On islands off France, Norway rats are also implicated in declines of shrews. Globally, ship rats were associated with declines or extinctions of the largest number of indigenous vertebrate species (60), including small mammals such as deer mice and bats. Effects of rats on forest trees and seabird populations are sufficiently pervasive to affect ecosystem structure and function. However, the data are patchy. Deficiencies in our knowledge would be reduced by documenting distribution and abundance of indigenous species before and after eradications. Comprehensive measurements of the responses of indigenous species to rat eradications would enable the development of testable models of rat invasion effects.

show abstract

“…The "old" dates of Holdaway (1996) were not reproducable and therefore no longer have credibility (see also Anderson, 1996). Moreover, dates on rat-nibbled snail shells in northern North Island (Brook, 2000), and comprehensive suites of rat-nibbled tree seeds in both North and South islands, have all resulted in similar 14 C ages of ca. 700-750 cal BP, providing an independent test of the veracity of the young rat-bone ages (Wilmshurst et al, 2008).…”

Section: Fig 26mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tephrochronology and its application: A review

Lowe

2011

Quaternary Geochronology

651

535

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tephrochronology (from tephra, Gk "ashes") is a unique stratigraphic method for linking, dating, and synchronizing geological, palaeoenvironmental, or archaeological sequences or events. As well as utilizing the Law of Superposition, tephrochronology in practise requires tephra deposits to be characterized (or "fingerprinted") using physical properties evident in the field together with those obtained from laboratory analyses. Such analyses include mineralogical examination (petrography) or geochemical analysis of glass shards or crystals using an electron microprobe or other analytical tools including laser-ablation-based mass spectrometry or the ion microprobe. The palaeoenvironmental or archaeological context in which a tephra occurs may also be useful for correlational purposes. Tephrochronology provides greatest utility when a numerical age obtained for a tephra or cryptotephra is transferrable from one site to another using stratigraphy and by comparing and matching inherent compositional features of the deposits with a high degree of likelihood. Used this way, tephrochronology is an age-equivalent dating method that provides an exceptionally precise volcanic-event stratigraphy. Such age transfers are valid because the primary tephra deposits from an eruption essentially have the same short-lived age everywhere they occur, forming isochrons very soon after the eruption (normally within a year).As well as providing isochrons for palaeoenvironmental and archaeological reconstructions, tephras through their geochemical analysis allow insight into volcanic and magmatic processes, and provide a comprehensive record of explosive volcanism and recurrence rates in the Quaternary (or earlier) that can be used to establish time-space relationships of relevance to volcanic hazard analysis.The basis and application of tephrochronology as a central stratigraphic and geochronological tool for Quaternary studies are presented and discussed in this review. Topics covered include principles of tephrochronology, defining isochrons, tephra nomenclature, mapping and correlating tephras from proximal to distal locations at metre-through to sub-3 millimetre-scale, cryptotephras, mineralogical and geochemical fingerprinting methods, numerical and statistical correlation techniques, and developments and applications in dating including the use of flexible depositional age-modelling techniques based on Bayesian statistics.Along with reference to wide-ranging examples and the identification of important recent advances in tephrochronology, such as the development of new geoanalytical approaches that enable individual small glass shards to be analysed near-routinely for major, trace, and rare-earth elements, potential problems such as miscorrelation, erroneous-age transfer, and tephra reworking and taphonomy (especially relating to cryptotephras) are also examined. Some of the challenges for future tephrochronological studies include refining geochemical analytical methods further, improving understanding of cryptotephra dis...

show abstract

Prehistoric predation of the landsnailPlacostylus ambagiosusSuter (Stylommatophora: Bulimulidae), and evidence for the timing of establishment of rats in northernmost New Zealand

Cited by 26 publications

References 18 publications

Dating the late prehistoric dispersal of Polynesians to New Zealand using the commensal Pacific rat

Dating the late prehistoric dispersal of Polynesians to New Zealand using the commensal Pacific rat

Have the Harmful Effects of Introduced Rats on Islands been Exaggerated?

Tephrochronology and its application: A review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About