Collaborative Research: Management Practices and Microbial Communities in Prehistoric Aquaculture

该项目调查早期农民如何使用微生物来维持和管理鱼类生产。考古研究发现了一种高产的农业系统，生产湿地和旱地作物，如红薯和芋头。鱼塘水产养殖是这一系统的关键部分，被用来为精英家庭可靠地供应鱼类。起源于波利尼西亚中部和东波利尼西亚的农业实践，由波利尼西亚航海家带到夏威夷，鱼塘代表着一种独特的创新，为人类居住创造了一个多产和有弹性的生态位。基于形式的多样性和历史上确定的做法，鱼塘管理必须依赖于对各种物种生命周期的深入了解，以及支持池塘微生物的做法。过去对鱼塘管理的考古调查有助于回答几个相关的基本问题：生态知识如何转化为改善自然环境的做法，以及这些做法如何支持不断增长的人口和充满活力的政治经济？这项研究将与当地社区合作进行，包括集体田野调查和实验室研究，以支持传统生态学知识的传播，以及对夏威夷学生的STEM培训。研究小组将结合微生物学和考古学的方法来检查位于沿海沙丘和湿地保护区内的鱼塘残骸的沉积物。一个由考古学家、微生物学家、古生态学家和当地社区志愿者组成的团队计划调查1000年来的水产养殖生产序列。结合沉积物岩心、考古发掘、鱼类遗骸的动物考古分析、放射性碳测年和沉积物中微生物的基因分析，该小组将对鱼塘历史上的管理做法进行排序和分析。序列将与预测人类生态位构建和精英管理切入点的理论模型进行比较。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project investigates how early farmers used microbes to maintain and manage fish production. Archaeological research has identified a highly productive agricultural systems that produced wetland and dryland crops, such as sweet potato and taro. Fishpond aquaculture was a critical part of this system and was used to reliably supply fish for elite households. Stemming from agricultural practices that originated in Central and East Polynesia, which were brought to Hawai’i by Polynesian voyagers, fishponds represent a unique innovation that created a productive and resilient niche for human habitation. Based upon the diversity of forms and historically identified practices, fishpond management must have relied upon the intimate knowledge of the life cycle of various species, as well as practices that supported the micro-organisms in ponds. The archaeological investigation of fishpond management in the past aids in answering several related fundamental questions: how did ecological knowledge translate to practices that modified the natural environment, and how did these practices support a growing population well as a dynamic political economy? The research will be conducted in partnership with the local community and includes collective fieldwork and laboratory research that supports the transmission of traditional ecological knowledge along with STEM training for Hawaiian students.The research team will pair methods from microbiology and archaeology to examine the sediments of the remains of a fishpond, located within a coastal dunes and wetlands refuge. A team of archaeologists, microbiologists, paleoecologists, and local community volunteers plan to investigate a thousand-year sequence of aquacultural production. Combining sediment cores, archaeological excavations, zooarchaeological analysis of fish remains, radiocarbon dating, and the genetic analysis of microbes in sediments, the team will sequence and analyze the succession of management practices over the history of the fishpond. Sequences will be compared to a theoretical model that predicts human niche construction and entry-points for elite management.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.