Rick Torben C, Radde Hugh D, Teeter Wendy G, Elliott Smith Emma A, Alvitre Cindi M, Dagtas Nihan D, Kennedy-Richardson Karimah O, King Julie L, Martinez Desireé R, Schnorr Stephanie, Shirazi Sabrina, Maldonado Jesús E, Hofman Courtney A
Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA.
Repository for Archaeological and Ethnographic Collections, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
R Soc Open Sci. 2024 Nov 6;11(11):240726. doi: 10.1098/rsos.240726. eCollection 2024 Nov.
People have influenced Earth's biodiversity for millennia, including numerous introductions of domestic and wild species to islands. Here, we explore the origins and ecology of the Santa Catalina Island ground squirrel (SCIGS; ), one of only five endemic terrestrial mammals found on California's Santa Catalina Island. We synthesized all records of archaeological/palaeontological SCIGS, conducted radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis of the potentially earliest SCIGS remains and performed genetic analysis of modern SCIGS. Squirrels were not identified in island palaeontological deposits, but at least 12 island archaeological sites contain SCIGS bones, including some that are butchered or burned. All directly dated SCIGS bones are Late Holocene in age and younger than approximately 1290 cal BP. The first mitochondrial genome for modern and 15 modern SCIGS mitogenomes document at least one introduction of squirrels. Stable isotope data indicate variable SCIGS diets and potential subsidies from marine environments to terrestrial plants consumed by some individuals. We cannot rule out a natural overwater dispersal, but the earliest SCIGS remains post-date the earliest evidence for people by several millennia and, along with other lines of evidence, support a human-assisted translocation of squirrels during the Late Holocene. These data illustrate the important role of Indigenous people in shaping and enhancing island biodiversity and ecology around the world.
几千年来，人类一直在影响着地球的生物多样性，包括多次将家养和野生动物引入岛屿。在此，我们探究圣卡塔利娜岛地松鼠（SCIGS）的起源和生态，它是在加利福尼亚州圣卡塔利娜岛上发现的仅有的五种本土陆生哺乳动物之一。我们综合了考古学/古生物学中关于圣卡塔利娜岛地松鼠的所有记录，对可能是最早的圣卡塔利娜岛地松鼠遗骸进行了放射性碳年代测定和稳定同位素分析，并对现代圣卡塔利娜岛地松鼠进行了基因分析。在岛屿古生物学沉积物中未发现松鼠，但至少有12个岛屿考古遗址包含圣卡塔利娜岛地松鼠的骨骼，其中一些是被屠宰或焚烧过的。所有直接测年的圣卡塔利娜岛地松鼠骨骼都属于全新世晚期，年龄小于约1290 cal BP。现代圣卡塔利娜岛地松鼠的首个线粒体基因组以及15个现代圣卡塔利娜岛地松鼠的线粒体基因组证明至少有一次松鼠的引入。稳定同位素数据表明圣卡塔利娜岛地松鼠的饮食各不相同，一些个体所食用的陆生植物可能得到了海洋环境的补贴。我们不能排除自然的水上扩散，但最早的圣卡塔利娜岛地松鼠遗骸比人类最早的证据晚了几千年，并且与其他证据一起，支持了全新世晚期人类协助松鼠迁移的观点。这些数据说明了原住民在塑造和增强世界各地岛屿生物多样性和生态方面所起的重要作用。
