Collaborative Research: The Use of Biological Markers to Reconstruct Human-Environment Interaction

合作研究：利用生物标记重建人类与环境的相互作用

• 批准号: 1623595
• 负责人: William D'Andrea
• 金额: $ 12.44万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2020-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1623595&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Use; Biological; Markers

A team of scientists from the University of Massachusetts, Columbia University and William and Mary College will use new molecular techniques to reconstruct the past history of environmental changes in the Faroe Islands, a key location in the migration of people across the North Atlantic. Recent archeological research has found intriguing evidence that the first settlers on the islands arrived before the 9th century Norse settlers, but little is known about their impact on the environment, and what animals they might have brought with them. The research will focus on lake sediments that provide a record of natural and human-induced environmental changes over time. The research will contribute to studies of how humans adapt to environmental changes in marginal island environments, by examining the timing and history of environmental impacts, and the development of strategies that have allowed limited natural resources to be used sustainably for more than a thousand years. The project will involve collaboration with archeologists in the Faroe Islands, to prepare related educational materials for display in their National Museum, and will provide unique opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in the research and public outreach activities.The Faroe Islands represented an important "stepping stone" in the westward migration of people into Iceland, Greenland, and North America, so the timing of settlement in the Faroes has particular significance for an understanding of North Atlantic colonization. The research will provide new information about when settlers first arrived in the Faroe Islands, the type of animals that accompanied them, their use of fire to modify the local vegetation cover, and how these events relate to past climate variations in this remote region. The researchers will extract organic molecules preserved in lake sediments to obtain records that indicate the presence of human settlers. This will include compounds that are produced in the intestines of people, pigs and grazing animals (sheep, goats and cattle), and molecules related to the burning of peat and shrubs. Other compounds will indicate changes in the composition of vegetation. The research will also focus on DNA in the sediments, to identify the presence and types of animals that may have been brought to the islands by the first settlers. The sediments will be dated using radiocarbon, and volcanic ash from Icelandic eruptions of known age.

马萨诸塞大学，哥伦比亚大学和威廉和玛丽学院的科学家团队将使用新的分子技术来重建Faroe群岛过去环境变化的历史，Faroe群岛是北大西洋人民迁移的关键位置。 最近的考古研究发现了一个有趣的证据表明，岛上的第一批定居者到达了9世纪的北欧定居者，但对它们对环境的影响以及他们可能带来的动物的影响知之甚少。 该研究将集中于湖泊沉积物，这些沉积物随着时间的流逝提供了自然和人类引起的环境变化的记录。 这项研究将有助于研究人类如何通过研究环境影响的时机和历史以及制定允许有限自然资源可持续使用超过一千年的战略来适应边缘岛环境中环境变化的研究。 该项目将涉及与法罗群岛的考古学家合作，为在其国家博物馆中展示相关的教育材料，并为本科生提供独特的机会参加研究和公共宣传活动。法罗群岛代表着在冰岛，冰岛，北部和北部的北方人的特殊范围内的重要“阶梯式石头”。 这项研究将提供有关定居者何时首次到达法罗群岛的新信息，伴随它们的动物的类型，使用火来修改当地植被盖，以及这些事件与该偏远地区过去的气候变化有何关系。 研究人员将提取保存在湖泊沉积物中的有机分子，以获得表明人类定居者存在的记录。这将包括在人，猪和放牧动物（绵羊，山羊和牛）的肠道中产生的化合物，以及与泥炭和灌木燃烧有关的分子。 其他化合物将表明植被组成的变化。 这项研究还将集中在沉积物中的DNA上，以确定第一批定居者可能带到岛屿的动物的存在和类型。 沉积物将使用放射性碳和已知年龄冰岛喷发的火山灰进行日期。