The Use Of "Ancient" DNA For Interpreting Predation And Mammalian Population Dynamics

北德克萨斯大学的Steve Wolverton博士将与生物科学和地理学的同事们一起进行一项研究，研究阿根廷西部长期狩猎大型动物的影响。先前关于瓜纳科（一种喇嘛）狩猎的学术研究表明，在过去的4000年里，狩猎采集者能够持续地狩猎这个物种。这种模式是独一无二的，因为大多数关于大型野生动物长期狩猎的考古研究表明，人们过度捕猎猎物的数量，导致了严重的下降。是什么因素使人们能够长期在干旱地区持续狩猎大型动物？对瓜纳科古DNA （aDNA）的分析将使考古学家能够了解在这种情况下狩猎-采集者，大型猎物的相互作用，这与世界上许多其他地区的狩猎实践（当代和考古）有关。该地区的瓜纳瓜和人类种群是迁徙性的，在夏季利用安第斯河谷的丰富资源；因此，这项研究的一个重要方面是确定移民的地理组成部分是否有助于可持续狩猎的能力。研究小组将在aDNA分析中使用新的方法，这在考古学中是前所未有的。因此，这项研究通过使用新的方法代表了一个实质性的进步，可以用于研究世界许多地区的大型猎物的人类狩猎。当考古学家关注人口如何随时间增长或下降时，本研究中改进的方法将与世界任何地区任何物种（包括人类）的aDNA研究相关。结果将是对敏感的干旱环境中长期狩猎的影响进行全面研究。这项研究特别有趣，因为那里的狩猎采集者似乎已经找到了可持续狩猎的方法。了解这一过程对今天管理迁徙物种具有潜在的意义。Wolverton和他的研究小组将研究狩猎对瓜纳科种群遗传学的影响。此外，将通过aDNA分析来研究在过去4000年里，该地区的瓜纳瓜种群是否在地理上保持联系。这项研究将在北德克萨斯大学的aDNA实验室对阿根廷南部门多萨省的样本进行。研究地区的狩猎采集者占据了干旱的安第斯悬崖的沙漠和草原环境，今天由迁徙的牧民占据。因此，这项研究将过去的狩猎采集者与当代的牧场主联系起来，后者在低地和安第斯河谷之间使用相同的季节性迁徙模式。结果将是一个跨学科的数据集，可以与自然地理、石器资源使用、动物骨骼稳定同位素分析、考古植物学分析和遗址位置研究等现有数据相结合。研究将主要在北德克萨斯大学进行，它代表了考古学中aDNA分析的实质性进展，并将让学生参与项目的各个阶段。

Dr. Steve Wolverton, of the University of North Texas, along with colleagues in Biological Sciences and Geography, will undertake research to study the impact of long term hunting of large game in western Argentina. Previous scholarship on hunting of guanaco (a form of lama) indicates that hunter-gatherers were able to sustainably hunt the species for the last 4,000 years. This pattern is unique in that most archaeological studies of long term hunting of large wild game indicate that people overhunt prey populations, causing serious declines. What were the factors that enabled people to sustainably hunt large game in this aridland context over the long term? Analysis of ancient DNA (aDNA) from guanaco will enable archaeologists to learn about hunter-gatherer, large-game interactions in this context, which is relevant to hunting practices (contemporary and archaeological) in many other areas of the world. The guanaco and human populations in this region were migratory, taking advantage of the productive Andean river valleys during the summer; thus, an important aspect of this research is to determine if the geographic component of migration contributed to an ability to hunt sustainably. The research team will use new approaches in aDNA analysis, previously unexplored in archaeology. Thus, this research represents a substantial advancement through the use of new methods, which can be employed to study human hunting of large game in many areas of the world. The approaches refined in this study will be relevant to the study of aDNA from any species (including humans) in any part of the world when archaeologists are concerned with how populations grew or declined over time. . The result will be a comprehensive study of the impacts of long-term hunting in a sensitive aridland environment. This study is of particular interest because hunter-gatherers there seem to have figured out how to hunt sustainably. Understanding of this process has potential implications for managing migratory species today.Dr. Wolverton and his research team will examine the impacts of hunting on guanaco population genetics over time; in addition, whether or not guanaco populations remained geographically connected across the region during the last 4000 years will be studied through analysis of aDNA. The research will be conducted in the aDNA laboratory at the University of North Texas on samples from southern Mendoza Province, Argentina. Hunter-gatherers in the study region occupied the desert and steppe environments of the arid Andean escarpment, today occupied by migratory herders. The research, thus, links past hunter-gatherers to contemporary ranchers who use the same seasonal migratory patterns between the lowlands and Andean river valleys. The outcome will be an interdisciplinary dataset that can be combined with existing data on physical geography, stone tool resource use, stable-isotope analysis of animal bone, archaeobotanical analysis, and study of site locations over time The research will take place primarily at the University of North Texas, it represents substantial advancement in aDNA analysis in archaeology, and it will involve students in all phases of the project.