This two-year exploratory program of collaborative interdisciplinary research on societal adaptation and agents of change from the mid-Holocene to the present in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) is focused on the links among subsistence choices and health in the face of mercury bioaccumulation and changes in the marine food web. Using archaeological datasets as a starting point, primary goals are to: 1) assess whether human subsistence choices change in concert with or are independent of local marine ecosystem changes; and 2) evaluate the impact of changes in subsistence on past human health as indicated by the levels of mercury recovered from archaeological faunal samples. The investigators will explore the connections between marine vertebrate exploitation, food web length, ocean production, and mercury bioaccumulation. In the process we will generate new perspectives on humans as agents of change and human response to environmental agents of change.
Intellectual Merit
This research provides new information on stability and change in the human harvest of marine vertebrates, human subsistence choices, and human response to agents of change over 7000 years. The development of paired ecotoxicologic and stable isotope datasets is an innovative effort to place present day mercury levels and marine ecosystem changes in the context of past natural variability, including possible changes in the length of the marine food web. The research will test models of past marine resource use, and generates proxy historical data ocean productivity and importantly, on human paleodiet, nutrition, and mercury exposures. The project will test methods for measuring methylmercury in bone and will generate direct data on mercury levels in select marine vertebrates. In combination, these new datasets and analyses will enable the investigators to infer conditions under which we might expect to see increases in mercury bioaccumulation in the future. The project has implications for understanding of the dynamics of human behavior through a consideration of change over time in marine resource use. It also has implications for managing risks and uncertainties associated with the procurement, consumption, and preservation of marine species now and in the future. New expertise and approaches enable an integrated approach to assessing human/environment interaction through the lens of subsistence over the long-term. When combined with future social impact and risk assessment analysis, this temporal framework is essential for understanding and evaluating current conditions in Alaskan communities for whom use of marine resources is important, nutritionally, culturally, and commercially.
Broader Impacts
This project is an example of the integration of archaeological, biological, and physical approaches to human science and supports NSF initiatives to examine the complex causes of change, including the impact of global and regional system changes on human decision making, and the interactions between human societies and the environment. A first step towards predicting and modeling future scenarios, and especially human responses to real and perceived health risks resulting from the consumption of marine species, the project also opens frontiers for understanding and managing the marine environment. Data from the project will contribute to ongoing state health initiatives including the Alaska Mercury Maternal Biomonitoring Program. The information generated can also be used to address management and conservations concerns about recent changes in abundance of marine species of economic, cultural and aesthetic significance. The data will be relevant to wildlife managers who need to develop long-term plans to ensure and enhance the viability of the marine ecosystem. The data will be directly comparable to existing data for the North Atlantic as the faunal database is designed for compatibility with similar datasets. This is a step towards generating comparative and comparable results with global relevance. UAF has targeted global change/climate change and Alaskan Native Studies as future centers of excellence. The State of Alaska has targeted contaminants in subsistence foods as a priority research area. This proposal supports all of these initiatives. The project meets UAF strategic plan objectives for Strengthening cross-campus interdisciplinary research ties, and the proximity of all investigators will facilitate project meetings, enhance the success of the project, and graduate student progress. Results from this research will be incorporated into UAF's Sustainability and Stewardship program (S&SA NSF-03-515) via dissemination of content through student engagement as researchers with agencies and communities, and into UAF's IGERT program through seminar and teaching opportunities.
