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

毛利人通过用火改变新西兰景观：南岛中南部的案例研究

• 批准号: 0645821
• 负责人: Cathy Whitlock
• 金额: $ 27.48万
• 依托单位: Montana State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-03-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0645821&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Maori; Transformation; New; Zealand; Landscape

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.

凯西·惠特洛克·蒙大拿州立大学了解史前人类及其对环境的影响是地理学的中心主题，也是北美激烈辩论的话题。在世界大多数地区，由于需要有关史前活动的准确信息，以及能够区分人类影响和自然影响的环境变化记录，景观修改的评估变得复杂。这一挑战很少被应对，因为关于前欧洲景观是原始的还是经过严重修改的辩论，通常是在人类存在和环境变化有着长期共同历史的地方进行的。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)在以前没有经历过燃烧的生态系统中火灾的后果。毛利人在13世纪到达新西兰并定居，此后不久，原始封闭的森林覆盖率减少了近40%。这是世界上有记录以来最迅速、最完整的景观转换之一。这项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：在公元800年之前，新西兰没有人，火灾也很罕见。毛利人到达后，植被以宏伟的风格从森林转变为草原，燃烧的证据比比皆是。这项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：景观焚烧是一种频繁的、有目的的活动，旨在保持开放的植被覆盖吗？或者，是不是某些地区比其他地区更容易受到意外、偶发火灾的影响，这导致了一些地区的森林灭绝，而另一些地区的后果则不那么严重？为了回答这些问题，木炭和微化石分析中的最新技术将应用于单一分水岭内的湖址，以生成从前人类条件到毛利人到达，最后到欧洲人定居期间火灾频率和植被变化的详细重建。这项调查建立在新西兰资助的一个现有项目的基础上，并对其进行补充，该项目采取了更具区域性的方法。总而言之，这些项目将为史前人类和后来的欧洲人如何控制景观、管理战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变化提供重要的见解。将对邻近六个小湖泊的古生态记录进行分析，以确定最初的燃烧是以沿海拔梯度的时间海侵模式发生，还是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足够严重和频繁，是否足以维持各地的开阔景观。这项研究的重点是人为火灾对相对干燥的地形的初始冲击，那里先于人的火灾极其罕见。新西兰人类的两个阶段的影响，首先是土著人民的影响，然后是欧洲人的影响，对一片没有经历过太多火灾的地形提供了一个机会，可以从总体上审视人类引发的生态变化背后的机制。