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

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一个中心主题，也是北美地区激烈争论的一个话题。在世界大多数地区，由于需要史前活动的精确信息，以及能够区分人类影响和自然影响的环境变化记录，对景观改变的评估变得复杂。这一挑战很少得到满足，因为关于前欧洲景观是原始的还是经过大量修改的争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；(2)在一个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世纪到达并定居新西兰，此后不久就将原始封闭森林的覆盖面积减少了近40%。这一事件是世界上有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”的实验中更好地理解人与环境的相互作用：公元800年之前，新西兰没有人，火灾很少见。毛利人到达后，植被从森林变成了草地，燃烧的证据比比皆是。这项调查将审查新西兰南岛的森林砍伐是如何实现和维持的。关键问题是：景观焚烧是一种频繁的、有目的的活动，目的是维持开放的植被覆盖吗？或者，是否有些地区比其他地区更容易受到偶然的火灾的影响，这导致了一些地区的森林死亡，而另一些地区的后果不那么严重？为了回答这些问题，将在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和最后欧洲人定居期间的火灾频率和植被变化。这项调查建立在新西兰资助的一个现有项目的基础上，并对其进行了补充，该项目采取了更区域性的方法。总之，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。将分析邻近六个小湖泊的古生态记录，以确定最初的燃烧是沿着海拔梯度以时间-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的严重程度和频率是否足以维持各处的开阔景观。这项研究的重点是在相对干燥的地区，人为火灾的最初冲击，在那里，人类之前的火灾极为罕见。人类在新西兰的两个阶段的影响，首先是土著居民，然后是欧洲人，在一个没有经历过太多火灾的景观上，提供了一个机会来研究人类引发的生态变化背后的机制。

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.