Reconstructing the history of human impacts on coastal biodiversity in Chile: constraints and opportunities

Abstract

ABSTRACT1. Although Chile is at the forefront in evaluating experimentally the importance of human harvesting impacts on coastal biodiversity, there are no evaluations of such impacts on a long-term historical basis (tens to thousands of years). Different types of archival information (i.e. contemporaneous, archaeological, and palaeontological) were used to carry out a research programme based on the historical assessment of the impacts and intensity of resource extraction on coastal biodiversity along the Chilean coast.2. In addition to recent scientific literature, different sources of contemporaneous information (e.g. museum collections, old reports and accounts) can reveal the human impacts observed in the more recent past. Furthermore, the large number of prehistoric shell middens along the entire Chilean coast offer access to $11 000 years of history along the entire coast, although the faunal composition, structure, and dynamics of most of them remain largely unstudied.3. Finally, the rich and widespread fossil record of some marine groups provides the opportunity to reconstruct the structure and dynamics of benthic communities during different phases of human influence (e.g. pre-human, prehistoric harvesting, and modern harvesting).4. Preliminary comparisons of fossil versus modern bivalve assemblages suggest marked changes in the species composition. Human impacts seem very recent and shifts in the structure of benthic assemblages may have occurred only a few centuries/decades ago.5. In contrast, prehistoric harvesting, although intense, was apparently not enough to cause a profound impact on coastal ecosystems. The approach herein envisaged can provide the basis to build a historical baseline to evaluate the human impacts on the coastal biodiversity in the region.

Loco or no Loco? Holocene Climatic Fluctuations, Human Demography, and Community Based Management of Coastal Resources in Northern Chile

“…The following list contains the species identified and itemized by prevalence (by mass). Despite elevated mollusk diversity along the Atacama Desert littoral (Rivadeneira et al, 2010), the people at Caleta Vitor preferred a narrow selection of just 18 taxa. As all these species are available or accessible in relatively shallow waters, they were easy to catch and the cost of extracting them was the same.…”

El Tránsito Arcaico-Formativo en La Circumpuna Y Valles Occidentales Del Centro Sur Andino: Hacia Los Cambios "Neolíticos"

“…), se verifica una intensificación y mayor frecuencia de El Niño (Sandweiss et al 1996;) y hacia los ca. 3.500 años un notable cambio en la composición de las especies de moluscos a lo largo de la costa del Pacífico sur (Rivadeneira et al 2010). …”

“…La compleja arquitectura de la fase Tilocalar no se replicó en la costa, por innecesaria, pero sí acaeció la introducción de bienes e ideas, como los logros metalúrgicos y el uso de psicoactivos que se adecuaron rápidamente a la tradición costera, la cual había creado modos de vida de alta movilidad en torno a espacios productivos variables, lugares sacralizados funerarios, ritos rupestres y festines colectivos. menos concentrados, derivadas de labores competitivas para el consumo intensivo y oportunístico de moluscos de reducido tamaño (Castelleti 2007;Rivadeneira et al 2010). Efectivamente, estos desplazamientos más dinámicos persistieron en tiempos postformativos (Salazar et al 2009 …”

Variabilidad ambiental y recursos pesqueros en el Pacifico suroriental: estado de la investigacion y desafios para el manejo pesquero

“…El loco (Concholepas concholepas) se distribuye desde la costa central de Perú a Magallanes (Moreno et al, 1998) siendo extraído por las comunidades litorales desde el Holoceno temprano (Báez et al, 2004;Rivadeneira et al, 2010). A fines de la década del 70's y comienzos de los 80's, los desembarques aumentaron (incentivos por demanda y precio) disminuyendo drásticamente poco después de El Niño 82-83 en la zona norte (Regiones I-III), segunda mitad de la década (Regiones la IV y X), y a mediados de los 90's al sur (B. Yannicelli, com.…”