Aleuts, Sea Otters, and Alternate Stable-State Communities
Reexamination of stratified faunal components of a prehistoric Aleut midden excavated on Amchitka Island, Alaska, indicates that Aleut prey items changed dramatically during 2500 years of aboriginal occupation. Recent ecological studies in the Aleutian Islands have shown the concurrent existence of...
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Language: | English |
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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
1978
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.200.4340.403 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.200.4340.403 |
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craaas:10.1126/science.200.4340.403 2024-09-30T14:22:05+00:00 Aleuts, Sea Otters, and Alternate Stable-State Communities Simenstad, Charles A. Estes, James A. Kenyon, Karl W. 1978 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.200.4340.403 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.200.4340.403 en eng American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science volume 200, issue 4340, page 403-411 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 journal-article 1978 craaas https://doi.org/10.1126/science.200.4340.403 2024-09-19T04:00:23Z Reexamination of stratified faunal components of a prehistoric Aleut midden excavated on Amchitka Island, Alaska, indicates that Aleut prey items changed dramatically during 2500 years of aboriginal occupation. Recent ecological studies in the Aleutian Islands have shown the concurrent existence of two alternate stable nearshore communities, one dominated by macroalgae, the other by epibenthic herbivores, which are respectively maintained by the presence or absence of dense sea otter populations. Thus, rather than cultural shifts in food preference, the changes in Aleut prey were probably the result of local overexploitation of sea otters by aboriginal Aleuts. Article in Journal/Newspaper aleut Alaska Aleutian Islands AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Amchitka ENVELOPE(178.878,178.878,51.567,51.567) Amchitka Island ENVELOPE(178.983,178.983,51.542,51.542) Science 200 4340 403 411 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) |
op_collection_id |
craaas |
language |
English |
description |
Reexamination of stratified faunal components of a prehistoric Aleut midden excavated on Amchitka Island, Alaska, indicates that Aleut prey items changed dramatically during 2500 years of aboriginal occupation. Recent ecological studies in the Aleutian Islands have shown the concurrent existence of two alternate stable nearshore communities, one dominated by macroalgae, the other by epibenthic herbivores, which are respectively maintained by the presence or absence of dense sea otter populations. Thus, rather than cultural shifts in food preference, the changes in Aleut prey were probably the result of local overexploitation of sea otters by aboriginal Aleuts. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Simenstad, Charles A. Estes, James A. Kenyon, Karl W. |
spellingShingle |
Simenstad, Charles A. Estes, James A. Kenyon, Karl W. Aleuts, Sea Otters, and Alternate Stable-State Communities |
author_facet |
Simenstad, Charles A. Estes, James A. Kenyon, Karl W. |
author_sort |
Simenstad, Charles A. |
title |
Aleuts, Sea Otters, and Alternate Stable-State Communities |
title_short |
Aleuts, Sea Otters, and Alternate Stable-State Communities |
title_full |
Aleuts, Sea Otters, and Alternate Stable-State Communities |
title_fullStr |
Aleuts, Sea Otters, and Alternate Stable-State Communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Aleuts, Sea Otters, and Alternate Stable-State Communities |
title_sort |
aleuts, sea otters, and alternate stable-state communities |
publisher |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
publishDate |
1978 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.200.4340.403 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.200.4340.403 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(178.878,178.878,51.567,51.567) ENVELOPE(178.983,178.983,51.542,51.542) |
geographic |
Amchitka Amchitka Island |
geographic_facet |
Amchitka Amchitka Island |
genre |
aleut Alaska Aleutian Islands |
genre_facet |
aleut Alaska Aleutian Islands |
op_source |
Science volume 200, issue 4340, page 403-411 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.200.4340.403 |
container_title |
Science |
container_volume |
200 |
container_issue |
4340 |
container_start_page |
403 |
op_container_end_page |
411 |
_version_ |
1811633019576909824 |