Modern coastal ecosystems of the American Southeast are shaped by deep-time human-environment interactions
Abstract Coastal and estuarine ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate change, placing them at the forefront of challenges to mediate impacts of a warming atmosphere, rising sea-levels, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events. To model potential loss, predict and prepare for future...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Communications Earth & Environment |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02189-1 |
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| author | Jacob Holland-Lulewicz Brandon T. Ritchison Isabelle Holland-Lulewicz Matthew D. Howland Amanda Roberts Thompson Victor D. Thompson |
| author_facet | Jacob Holland-Lulewicz Brandon T. Ritchison Isabelle Holland-Lulewicz Matthew D. Howland Amanda Roberts Thompson Victor D. Thompson |
| author_sort | Jacob Holland-Lulewicz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Coastal and estuarine ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate change, placing them at the forefront of challenges to mediate impacts of a warming atmosphere, rising sea-levels, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events. To model potential loss, predict and prepare for future regime shifts, or to build effective conservation policies, it is important to understand the long-term socioecological processes that structure modern ecosystems. We highlight how modern ecological baselines along the Georgia coast of eastern North America are shaped by 5000 years of Indigenous and Euro-American land use. We demonstrate the extent and intensity of manifestations of past land use on modern landscapes, especially by way of quantifying the scale of shell deposition by Indigenous communities and the landscape infrastructure of Euro-American plantations. Through both intentional and unintentional impacts, modern estuarine ecosystems globally are products of these engagements, alterations, and creative transformations that we refer to as deep-time legacy drivers. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-69a4a4dd6c8c4efb9a12f4ee9ac6692b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2662-4435 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Earth & Environment |
| spelling | doaj-art-69a4a4dd6c8c4efb9a12f4ee9ac6692b2025-08-20T03:40:47ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Earth & Environment2662-44352025-03-016111410.1038/s43247-025-02189-1Modern coastal ecosystems of the American Southeast are shaped by deep-time human-environment interactionsJacob Holland-Lulewicz0Brandon T. Ritchison1Isabelle Holland-Lulewicz2Matthew D. Howland3Amanda Roberts Thompson4Victor D. Thompson5Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State UniversityDepartment of Anthropology, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignDepartment of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State UniversityDepartment of Anthropology, Wichita State UniversityLaboratory of Archaeology, University of GeorgiaDepartment of Anthropology, University of GeorgiaAbstract Coastal and estuarine ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate change, placing them at the forefront of challenges to mediate impacts of a warming atmosphere, rising sea-levels, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events. To model potential loss, predict and prepare for future regime shifts, or to build effective conservation policies, it is important to understand the long-term socioecological processes that structure modern ecosystems. We highlight how modern ecological baselines along the Georgia coast of eastern North America are shaped by 5000 years of Indigenous and Euro-American land use. We demonstrate the extent and intensity of manifestations of past land use on modern landscapes, especially by way of quantifying the scale of shell deposition by Indigenous communities and the landscape infrastructure of Euro-American plantations. Through both intentional and unintentional impacts, modern estuarine ecosystems globally are products of these engagements, alterations, and creative transformations that we refer to as deep-time legacy drivers.https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02189-1 |
| spellingShingle | Jacob Holland-Lulewicz Brandon T. Ritchison Isabelle Holland-Lulewicz Matthew D. Howland Amanda Roberts Thompson Victor D. Thompson Modern coastal ecosystems of the American Southeast are shaped by deep-time human-environment interactions Communications Earth & Environment |
| title | Modern coastal ecosystems of the American Southeast are shaped by deep-time human-environment interactions |
| title_full | Modern coastal ecosystems of the American Southeast are shaped by deep-time human-environment interactions |
| title_fullStr | Modern coastal ecosystems of the American Southeast are shaped by deep-time human-environment interactions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Modern coastal ecosystems of the American Southeast are shaped by deep-time human-environment interactions |
| title_short | Modern coastal ecosystems of the American Southeast are shaped by deep-time human-environment interactions |
| title_sort | modern coastal ecosystems of the american southeast are shaped by deep time human environment interactions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02189-1 |
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