Maori Transformation of the New Zealand Landscape Through the Use of Fire: A Case Study from South-Central South Island

提案0645821凯西·惠特洛克蒙大拿州立大学了解史前民族及其对环境的影响是地理学的一个中心主题，也是北美激烈辩论的一个话题。 在世界大多数地区，由于需要关于史前活动的精确资料以及能够区分人为影响和自然影响的环境变化记录，对地貌改变的评估变得复杂。 这一挑战很少遇到，因为关于前欧洲景观是原始的还是经过严重改造的争论通常发生在人类存在和环境变化有着长期共同历史的地方。 新西兰是一个罕见的例外，它提供了一个无与伦比的机会来研究（1）在没有重大气候变化的情况下人类对森林景观的改造，以及（2）火灾对以前没有经历过燃烧的生态系统的影响。 毛利人在世纪抵达新西兰定居，此后不久，原始封闭的森林覆盖率减少了近40%。 这一事件是世界上任何地方记录的最迅速和最完整的景观转换之一。 拟议的调查将在一个相对“受控”的实验中更好地了解人与环境的相互作用：公元800年之前，新西兰没有人，火灾也很罕见。 毛利人到达后，植被从森林变成了草原，燃烧的证据比比皆是。 调查将审查新西兰南岛如何实现和维持森林砍伐。 关键的问题是：景观燃烧是一个频繁的，有目的的活动，旨在保持开放的植被覆盖？ 或者，某些地区比其他地区更容易发生意外的、偶然的火灾，导致某些地区的森林死亡，而其他地区的后果不太严重？ 为了回答这些问题，将在一个单一流域内的湖泊地点应用木炭和微化石分析的最新技术，以详细重建从人类出现前到毛利人到达最后到欧洲人定居的火灾频率和植被变化。 这项调查是在新西兰资助的一个现有项目的基础上进行的，并对该项目起到补充作用，该项目采取了一种更具区域性的办法。 这些项目将共同为史前人类和后来的欧洲人如何控制景观、管理策略如何随着时间的推移而演变以及当地活动如何导致区域生态转型提供重要见解。 将对附近六个小湖的古生态记录进行分析，以确定最初的燃烧是否发生在沿沿着海拔梯度的时间海侵模式中，或者是否在整个地区同步发生。 火灾特征和植被反应的空间差异将有助于评估毛利人纵火是否严重和频繁，足以维持各地的开放景观。 这项研究的重点是人类火灾对相对干燥的景观的最初冲击，在那里，人类之前的火灾非常罕见。 新西兰的人类活动，首先是土著人，然后是欧洲人，对一个没有经历过多少火灾的景观产生了两个阶段的影响，这为研究人类引发的生态变化背后的机制提供了一个机会。

Proposal 0645821Cathy WhitlockMontana State UniversityAn understanding of prehistoric peoples and their influence on the environment is a central theme in geography and a topic of heated debate in North America. In most parts of the world, assessment of landscape modification is complicated by the need for precise information on prehistoric activities, as well as a record of environmental change that can distinguish human impacts from natural ones. This challenge is seldom met, because the debate over whether preEuropean landscapes were pristine or heavily modified is generally waged in places where human presence and environmental change have long joint histories. New Zealand is a rare exception and affords an unparalleled opportunity to study (1) human transformation of a forested landscape in the absence of major climate change, and (2) the consequences of fire in an ecosystem that had not previously experienced burning. Maori arrived and settled New Zealand in the 13th century, and soon thereafter reduced the original closed forest cover by nearly 40%. This event is one of the most rapid and complete landscape conversions recorded anywhere in the world. The proposed investigation will provide a better understanding of human-environment interactions in a relatively "controlled" experiment: Prior to 800 AD, there were no people in NZ and fire was rare. After Maori arrival, the vegetation was transformed in grand style from forest to grassland and evidence of burning abounds. The investigation will examine how deforestation was achieved and maintained on the South Island of New Zealand. The key questions are: Was landscape burning a frequent, purposeful activity designed to maintain an open vegetation cover? Or, were some areas more vulnerable to accidental, occasional fire than others, which led to forest demise in some regions and less severe consequences in others? To answer these questions, the latest techniques in charcoal and microfossil analysis will be applied at lake sites within a single watershed to generate a detailed reconstruction of fire frequency and vegetation change spanning the period from pre-human conditions to Maori arrival and finally European settlement. The investigation builds upon and complements an existing New Zealand-funded project that takes a more regional approach. Together, these projects will provide critical insights into how prehistoric people and later Europeans controlled the landscape, how management strategies evolved over time, and how local activities led to regional ecological transformation. Paleoecologic records from six small lakes in close proximity will be analyzed to determine if the initial burning occurred in a time-transgressive pattern along elevational gradients or whether it was synchronous across the area. Spatial differences in fire characteristics and vegetation response will help assess whether or not Maori-set fires were severe and frequent enough to maintain an open landscape everywhere. The focus on the study is on the initial shock of anthropogenic fire on a relatively dry landscape where fires prior to people were extremely rare. The two-phased impact of humans in New Zealand, first by indigenous people and then by Europeans, on a landscape that had not experienced much fire offers an opportunity to examine the mechanisms behind human-triggered ecological changes in general.