Mapping long-term patterns of marine biodiversity and complexity through biomolecular analysis of archaeological archives

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In a world of eroding biological diversity, maintaining and restoring healthy marine ecosystems are key priorities for coastal communities, resource managers and governments. In achieving these goals, ecologists increasingly recognise the value of long--term biological and historic records to inform realistic ecological baselines and develop effective target reference points. Nevertheless, systematic scientific observations and quantitative historical records rarely stretch beyond a few decades or centuries. In contrast, vertebrate remains and soils recovered from archaeological sites provide a rich resource for documenting past marine biodiversity and complexity over millennia, and expand coverage to regions and taxa for which historical sources are not available. Coupled with state-of-the-art biomolecular techniques, these biological archives can provide unprecedented insight into the distribution, ecology and genetic diversity of marine taxa through time and space and help quantify the impact of anthropogenic influences at varying levels of intensity over the past several thousand years. My research program combines innovative biomolecular techniques with archaeological data to explore long--term, multi--scalar changes in marine biodiversity and biocomplexity associated with human exploitation and resource management over the last 6,000 years. This research program will establish the Ancient DNA and Proteins (ADaPT) laboratory to mentor and train HQP in a variety of biomolecular methods, including the analysis of ancient DNA and proteins entrapped in archaeological sediments and marine vertebrate bones. We will apply these techniques to document changes in marine biodiversity associated with periods of climatic stability and flux on the Northern Coast of British Columbia from the mid- to late-Holocene. We will also examine the legacies of industrial exploitation of marine resources through case studies on Pacific herring and baleen whales: species that have experienced dramatic changes in their ecology and distribution since the Late Holocene and continue to adjust to dynamic oceanic conditions and the alteration of marine ecosystems caused by overfishing and habitat changes. We will compare ancient and modern genomes of these taxa to identify recent changes in genetic diversity and population structure, and develop baseline information for informing recovery targets and future management plans. This proposed research directly addresses key priorities of Canada's Oceans Strategy by feeding into the development of environmental assessments and resource management plans that take an ecosystem approach and which effectively acknowledge the long--term cumulative impacts of human actions on the marine environment. Furthermore, the multi-sectorial benefits of this research will strengthen ties between academics, First Nations, resource managers and government bodies.