Environmental predictors of pre-European deforestation on Pacific islands

摘要: Some Pacific island societies, such as those of Easter Island and Mangareva, inadvertently contributed to their own collapse by causing massive deforestation. Others retained forest cover survived. How can fateful differences be explained? Although the answers undoubtedly involve both different cultural responses peoples susceptibilities environments, how one determine which environmental factors predispose towards deforestation replacement native trees with useful introduced tree species? Here we code European-contact conditions nine variables for 81 sites on 69 islands from Yap in west east, Hawaii north New Zealand south. We thereby detect statistical decreases and/or rainfall, elevation, area, volcanic ash fallout, Asian dust transport makatea terrain (uplifted reef), increases latitude, age isolation. Comparative analyses therefore lend themselves much more detailed interpretations than previously possible. These results might relevant similar deforestation-associated collapses (for example, Fertile Crescent, Maya Anasazi) or lack thereof (Japan highland Guinea) elsewhere world.