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- W207922130 abstract "This research explores the possible consequences of human predation on lagomorph populations around Chevelon Pueblo (1290-1400 C.E.), a part of the ancestral Hopi Homol'ovi site cluster in northern Arizona. We hypothesize that pressure from Chevelon hunters may have caused an evolutionary shift in their main prey base – cottontails and jackrabbits – towards faster individuals better able to evade predation. Similar studies have explored the effects of human hunting on large-bodied animals, but rarely have investigated the effects on small animals and particularly not small mammals. To determine whether human hunting induced a change in lagomorph locomotion, cottontail and jackrabbit bones from Chevelon Pueblo that are indicative of size and speed were measured and compared through time. Results indicate no significant change for any element except the cottontail mandible, which was significantly smaller in the Early period than in either the Middle or Late periods. This shift could be due to a number of factors, including hunting practices or anthropogenic landscape changes. ____________________________ Human hunting practices are known to influence the demographics of prey populations, but studies thus far have focused almost exclusively on human predation of large-bodied prey, neglecting the effects of similar pressures on small-bodied prey populations (Stiner et al. 2000). One of the well-documented changes brought about by human hunting in large mammals is a change in average body size. With large mammalian prey, such as artiodactyls, it has been demonstrated that, due to human hunters’ propensity to take the largest, most meat-rich individuals of a species, overhunting of those species results in a decrease in the average size of individuals in the population (Hill, Jr. et al. 2008). This occurs because the largest individuals are also usually the oldest, so consistently taking adults by hunting causes a demographic shift in the population that results in fewer adults relative to smaller-sized juveniles (Hill, Jr. et al. 2008, Wolverton 2001). Surprisingly, a similar result was uncovered for two small-bodied prey types in the Mediterranean over the course of the Paleolithic. These two, limpets and tortoises, “underwent substantial size diminution during the later Paleolithic and likely became rarer because of heavy harvesting” (Stiner et al. 2000:49). Although small in body size, limpets and tortoises have very low capture costs which likely resulted in their being a more highly-ranked prey in terms of hunter preference than fast-moving, evasive small prey such as rabbits and hares. In fact, Stiner (2000) explains this size change in limpets and tortoises and hunters’ subsequent focus on lowerranked small prey as indicating an increase in human population density over time in the areas studied. Lower-ranked small prey, including rabbits and hares, were able to sustain these larger human populations, Stiner (2000) contends, because they are “high-turnover” species with fast growth and reproductive rates as opposed to limpets and tortoises which grow and mature more slowly. This study was useful in showing how human exploitation of certain small prey types could signal changes in human population size, and also in connecting the size-diminution pattern seen in overhunted populations of large mammals to growth and reproductive rates rather than size alone; however, aside from demonstrating the resilience of rabbits and hares and similar low-ranked prey species to prolonged, intense human predation, specific effects on these populations were not examined. In the prehistoric North American Southwest, small-bodied, low-ranked small prey – mostly cottontails and jackrabbits – constitute the majority of recovered zooarchaeological assemblages (Szuter 1991). Southwestern peoples relied on these low-ranked species as their main meat source throughout Holocene prehistory, but not because of any prior overhunting of higher-ranked prey species. Large-bodied mammals were simply not readily available in these environments, so the taking of low-ranked prey was necessary for these human populations to survive. CHEVELON PUEBLO Chevelon Pueblo is one of seven villages that comprise the Homol’ovi site cluster in what is now northern Arizona (Adams 2002). Chevelon was occupied from approximately 1290 to 1400 C.E., when it was abandoned likely due to a combination of political and environmental factors (Adams et al. 2004). It is situated at the confluence of the Little Colorado River and Chevelon Creek, but despite these water sources, large game were scarce, so Chevelon hunters focused their efforts on capturing cottontails and jackrabbits, which were abundant (Adams 2002). Chevelon was the third largest village of the cluster, growing from an original 200 rooms in 1300 C.E. to 500 by 1375 C.E., although only 350 of these were occupied at its peak (Adams 2002). The settlement’s maximum population is estimated to have been some 300 individuals who grew and subsisted primarily on maize, with the aforementioned cottontails and jackrabbits as their main meat source (Adams 2002). Because hunting was so focused on lagomorphs [zooarchaeological data from the Homol’ovi cluster indicate that 80-85 percent of recovered animal bone identifies as either cottontail or jackrabbit (Adams 2002)], we hypothesize that the pressure of human hunting may have induced an evolutionary shift in these populations toward faster individuals better able to evade predation. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that, as with many non-human predators, human hunters would be more likely to take the slower, easier-to-capture individuals before the faster ones (Eshel 1978, Eshel et al. 2005). We know that cottontails and jackrabbits are prolific reproducers, and therefore are able to sustain a high degree of predation pressure without a population collapse (Stiner 2000), but this high reproductive rate also means any shifts in the populations due to a selective pressure should become evident fairly quickly. Although Chevelon Pueblo was only occupied for about 100 years, this is enough time for human selective pressures to act on multiple generations of cottontails and jackrabbits. Even on this time scale, it is entirely possible that, as slower individuals were consistently culled from the gene pool, the average speed of individuals in the populations would increase. Such an increase would be evidenced by changes in dimensions and proportions of skeletal elements related to locomotion in cottontail and jackrabbit populations over time. In order to test this hypothesis, relevant limb bones of cottontails and jackrabbits from Chevelon Pueblo were measured and compared through time. Measurements were also taken from the mandible in order to control for any overall body size changes, as this element should not be affected by selective pressures on locomotion. Limb bones were measured because changes in their lengths would indicate longer possible strides, and consequently, faster speed. Changes in the proportions of skeletal attachment sites for muscles important to locomotion would also indicate shifts in running ability as an increase in a muscle’s moment arm length would increase its torque and allow for less energy to be expended with each stride, which translates into more powerful running ability (higher speed) and greater endurance." @default.
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- W207922130 title "The Evolutionary Effects of Human Predation on Lagomorph Populations at Chevelon Pueblo" @default.
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