Disappearance of Icelandic Walruses Coincided with Norse Settlement
Abstract There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating the impacts of human arrival in new “pristine” environments, including terrestrial habitat alterations and species extinctions. However, the effects of marine resource utilization prior to industrialized whaling, sealing, and fishing have la...
Published in: | Molecular Biology and Evolution |
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2019
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msz196 http://academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/molbev/msz196/29727089/msz196.pdf http://academic.oup.com/mbe/article-pdf/36/12/2656/31140303/msz196.pdf |
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croxfordunivpr:10.1093/molbev/msz196 2024-09-15T18:13:19+00:00 Disappearance of Icelandic Walruses Coincided with Norse Settlement Keighley, Xénia Pálsson, Snæbjörn Einarsson, Bjarni F Petersen, Aevar Fernández-Coll, Meritxell Jordan, Peter Olsen, Morten Tange Malmquist, Hilmar J National Science Foundation 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msz196 http://academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/molbev/msz196/29727089/msz196.pdf http://academic.oup.com/mbe/article-pdf/36/12/2656/31140303/msz196.pdf en eng Oxford University Press (OUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Molecular Biology and Evolution volume 36, issue 12, page 2656-2667 ISSN 0737-4038 1537-1719 journal-article 2019 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msz196 2024-08-12T04:23:19Z Abstract There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating the impacts of human arrival in new “pristine” environments, including terrestrial habitat alterations and species extinctions. However, the effects of marine resource utilization prior to industrialized whaling, sealing, and fishing have largely remained understudied. The expansion of the Norse across the North Atlantic offers a rare opportunity to study the effects of human arrival and early exploitation of marine resources. Today, there is no local population of walruses on Iceland, however, skeletal remains, place names, and written sources suggest that walruses existed, and were hunted by the Norse during the Settlement and Commonwealth periods (870–1262 AD). This study investigates the timing, geographic distribution, and genetic identity of walruses in Iceland by combining historical information, place names, radiocarbon dating, and genomic analyses. The results support a genetically distinct, local population of walruses that went extinct shortly after Norse settlement. The high value of walrus products such as ivory on international markets likely led to intense hunting pressure, which—potentially exacerbated by a warming climate and volcanism—resulted in the extinction of walrus on Iceland. We show that commercial hunting, economic incentives, and trade networks as early as the Viking Age were of sufficient scale and intensity to result in significant, irreversible ecological impacts on the marine environment. This is to one of the earliest examples of local extinction of a marine species following human arrival, during the very beginning of commercial marine exploitation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland North Atlantic walrus* Oxford University Press Molecular Biology and Evolution 36 12 2656 2667 |
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English |
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Abstract There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating the impacts of human arrival in new “pristine” environments, including terrestrial habitat alterations and species extinctions. However, the effects of marine resource utilization prior to industrialized whaling, sealing, and fishing have largely remained understudied. The expansion of the Norse across the North Atlantic offers a rare opportunity to study the effects of human arrival and early exploitation of marine resources. Today, there is no local population of walruses on Iceland, however, skeletal remains, place names, and written sources suggest that walruses existed, and were hunted by the Norse during the Settlement and Commonwealth periods (870–1262 AD). This study investigates the timing, geographic distribution, and genetic identity of walruses in Iceland by combining historical information, place names, radiocarbon dating, and genomic analyses. The results support a genetically distinct, local population of walruses that went extinct shortly after Norse settlement. The high value of walrus products such as ivory on international markets likely led to intense hunting pressure, which—potentially exacerbated by a warming climate and volcanism—resulted in the extinction of walrus on Iceland. We show that commercial hunting, economic incentives, and trade networks as early as the Viking Age were of sufficient scale and intensity to result in significant, irreversible ecological impacts on the marine environment. This is to one of the earliest examples of local extinction of a marine species following human arrival, during the very beginning of commercial marine exploitation. |
author2 |
National Science Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Keighley, Xénia Pálsson, Snæbjörn Einarsson, Bjarni F Petersen, Aevar Fernández-Coll, Meritxell Jordan, Peter Olsen, Morten Tange Malmquist, Hilmar J |
spellingShingle |
Keighley, Xénia Pálsson, Snæbjörn Einarsson, Bjarni F Petersen, Aevar Fernández-Coll, Meritxell Jordan, Peter Olsen, Morten Tange Malmquist, Hilmar J Disappearance of Icelandic Walruses Coincided with Norse Settlement |
author_facet |
Keighley, Xénia Pálsson, Snæbjörn Einarsson, Bjarni F Petersen, Aevar Fernández-Coll, Meritxell Jordan, Peter Olsen, Morten Tange Malmquist, Hilmar J |
author_sort |
Keighley, Xénia |
title |
Disappearance of Icelandic Walruses Coincided with Norse Settlement |
title_short |
Disappearance of Icelandic Walruses Coincided with Norse Settlement |
title_full |
Disappearance of Icelandic Walruses Coincided with Norse Settlement |
title_fullStr |
Disappearance of Icelandic Walruses Coincided with Norse Settlement |
title_full_unstemmed |
Disappearance of Icelandic Walruses Coincided with Norse Settlement |
title_sort |
disappearance of icelandic walruses coincided with norse settlement |
publisher |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msz196 http://academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/molbev/msz196/29727089/msz196.pdf http://academic.oup.com/mbe/article-pdf/36/12/2656/31140303/msz196.pdf |
genre |
Iceland North Atlantic walrus* |
genre_facet |
Iceland North Atlantic walrus* |
op_source |
Molecular Biology and Evolution volume 36, issue 12, page 2656-2667 ISSN 0737-4038 1537-1719 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msz196 |
container_title |
Molecular Biology and Evolution |
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36 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
2656 |
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2667 |
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1810451082801840128 |