? Witch bottle | Main | Dolphin ?
January 29, 2004
Arctic ecology
Lake and pond sediment analysis has been used to demonstrate the effect of Thule Inuit whaling practices on Arctic ecosystems from four to eight-hundred years ago. The research is interesting in its demonstration of the potential for such analysis but is more important perhaps for pointing out the effects on non-European, foraging societies can have on the environment.
According to James Savelle, the McGill University archeologist on the research team, while the number of bowheads killed each year would have varied, during the more productive whaling seasons four to six animals may have been landed. The Thule were clearly very innovative, and developed methods to use well over 60% of the whale for food, fuel, and even building materials for their houses. “That’s a lot of biomass, and therefore potential nutrients, available for the surrounding ecosystem,” adds team member Jules Blais, a biologist from University of Ottawa.
It was the decomposing bones and flesh of the whale – and probably other sea mammals such as seals – slowly leaching nutrients into a nearby shallow pond and surrounding soil that permanently altered the area’s ecology. To reconstruct this history, the team collected sediment cores from the bottom of the pond and analyzed the fossil “markers” (tiny algal cells) preserved in each layer. As sediments slowly accumulate over time, they represent an archive of past environmental change.
It was the decomposing bones and flesh of the whale – and probably other sea mammals such as seals – slowly leaching nutrients into a nearby shallow pond and surrounding soil that permanently altered the area’s ecology. To reconstruct this history, the team collected sediment cores from the bottom of the pond and analyzed the fossil “markers” (tiny algal cells) preserved in each layer. As sediments slowly accumulate over time, they represent an archive of past environmental change.
Posted by Ghost of a flea at January 29, 2004 12:57 PM