Center for Environmental Biology and Ecosystem Studies, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8506, Japan.
Conservation Ecology Lab., Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Nishi 2-sen 11, Inadacho, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jul 23;9(1):10697. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-46809-1.
Past land-use activity has massively altered the environment and vegetation over centuries, resulting in range contractions and expansions of species. When habitat recovery and species recolonization require a long time, the fingerprint of past land use can remain on the current distribution of species. To evaluate millennial-scale effects of land use in Japan, we explained the current ranges of 29 mammalian genera based on three types of archaeological land-use patterns (settlement, ironwork and kiln) considering potential confounding factors. The results indicate that archaeological human activity associated with ironwork and pottery production had severe negative effects on many genera of small and medium-sized mammals. Despite positive effects on some genera, the magnitudes were less than those of the negative effects. The relative importance of archaeological factors on small mammals was greater than those for medium- to-large mammals. The persistent imprint of past land-use patterns was non-negligible, explaining current mammalian diversity. Spatial ecological and archaeological information can provide meaningful insights into long-term socio-ecological processes, which are crucial for the development of sustainable societies in the Anthropocene.
过去数百年的土地利用活动极大地改变了环境和植被，导致物种的分布范围收缩和扩张。当栖息地恢复和物种重新定居需要很长时间时，过去土地利用的痕迹可能会留在当前物种的分布上。为了评估日本千年尺度土地利用的影响，我们考虑了潜在的混杂因素，基于三种类型的考古土地利用模式（定居点、冶铁和窑炉）来解释 29 种哺乳动物属的当前分布范围。结果表明，与冶铁和陶器生产相关的考古人类活动对许多中小型哺乳动物的属有严重的负面影响。尽管对一些属有积极影响，但影响程度小于负面影响。考古因素对小型哺乳动物的相对重要性大于对中型至大型哺乳动物的相对重要性。过去土地利用模式的持续影响不可忽视，解释了当前哺乳动物的多样性。空间生态和考古信息可以为长期社会生态过程提供有意义的见解，这对人类世可持续社会的发展至关重要。
