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Fire activity and deforestation in Remote Oceanian islands caused by anthropogenic and climate interactions

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 7, pages 2028–2036 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Remote islands in the Pacific Ocean (Oceania) experienced dramatic environmental transformations after initial human settlement in the past 3,000 yr. Here, human causality of this environmental degradation has been unquestioned and viewed as evidence of the inherent destructive tendencies of human societies in both archaeological and popular discourse. We use charcoal and stable carbon isotopes from deep soil cores to reconstruct the dynamics of fire activity and deforestation across the Sigatoka River valley on the leeward (dry) side of Viti Levu, Fiji. Fires and pyrogenic patches of grassland predated human settlement by millennia, but the magnitude of fire activity and landscape transformation accelerated with the establishment and expansion of swidden agriculture. Regional comparisons with previous studies in Fiji and elsewhere in Remote Oceania settled between 3,200 and 2,900 yr bp reveal a similar pattern of pre- and post-settlement fire activity and landscape change. Pre-settlement fires generally corresponded to droughts, probably driven by El Niño, often correlating with drought-driven wildfires elsewhere in the region. Post-settlement, charcoal and C4 grasses increased dramatically, but nearly all major peaks in charcoal and grasses corresponded to increased El Niño activity. This indicates that fire activity and deforestation were a product of the interaction between swidden agriculture and climate rather than land use alone.

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Fig. 1: Map of Near and Remote Oceania settled at ca. 3,200–2,900 yr bp.
Fig. 2: Stratigraphic records of charcoal and stable carbon isotopes from Viti Levu.
Fig. 3: Fire and vegetation histories from the Sigatoka Valley.
Fig. 4: Comparison of Sigatoka records with regional fire records.
Fig. 5: Comparisons of Fiji and regional fire records with El Niño reconstructions.

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Data availability

All stratigraphic data presented in the main text and in Extended Data figures are available as Supplementary Data and via Figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.23989998.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff of the Fiji Museum, especially R. J. Balenaivalu for contributing to fieldwork; the Roko Tui of Nadroga-Navosa Province, V. Burenivalu, and the district officer of Navosa, J. Manweli; the communities and villages of Nayawa, Naduri, Vatubalavu, Tawatawadi and Koronisagana for granting us permission to core on their lands; and A. Commendador, M. Aiuvalasit and A. Figueroa for assistance with field and/or lab work. This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation BCS-1216312, BCS-1216330 and BCS-1216310. Comparative data were obtained from the Global Charcoal Database (http://www.paleofire.org), and the work of the data contributors and the Global Palaeofire Working Group is gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA

    Christopher I. Roos

  2. Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Julie S. Field

  3. Department of Anthropology, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, USA

    John V. Dudgeon

  4. Center for Archaeology, Materials and Applied Spectroscopy, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, USA

    John V. Dudgeon

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Contributions

C.I.R., J.S.F. and J.V.D. conceptualized the project, acquired funding and conducted investigations. C.I.R. curated data, conducted formal analysis, developed the methodology, administered the project together with J.S.F., performed visualization and wrote the original draft of the manuscript. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Christopher I. Roos.

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Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks S. Mooney, Mark Bush and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Stratigraphic data for the Caluwe core.

Stratigraphic data for the Caluwe Creek locality (CAL). Calibrated radiocarbon dates shown are only those used in the age depth model (Extended Data Fig. 6).

Extended Data Fig. 2 Stratigraphic data for the Caqasi core.

Stratigraphic data for the Caqasi Creek locality (CAQ). Calibrated radiocarbon dates shown are only those used in the age depth model (Extended Data Fig. 7).

Extended Data Fig. 3 Stratigraphic data for the Qaraqara 1 core.

Stratigraphic data for the Qaraqara Creek locality 1 (QAR 1), the older alluvial terrace. Calibrated radiocarbon dates shown are only those used in the age depth model (Extended Data Fig. 8).

Extended Data Fig. 4 Stratigraphic data for the Qaraqara 4 core.

Stratigraphic data for the Qaraqara Creek locality 4 (QAR 4), the younger alluvial terrace. Calibrated radiocarbon dates shown are only those used in the age depth model (Extended Data Fig. 9).

Extended Data Fig. 5 Stratigraphic data for the Tuwalu core.

Stratigraphic data for the Tuwalu Creek locality (TUW). Calibrated radiocarbon dates shown are only those used in the age depth model (Extended Data Fig. 10).

Extended Data Fig. 6 Age-depth model for the Caluwe Creek locality (CAL).

Calibrated ages used in the model are in blue. Calibrated ages for reworked, older, rejected dates are in red. A post-bomb date from the plowzone is not shown. Neither is a radiocarbon infinite date on charcoal from the Ab1 soil as it could not be plotted at this scale. Error lines indicate 95% confidence interval (CI) calibrated dates. Rectangles indicate 68% CI calibrated date ranges.

Extended Data Fig. 7 Age-depth model for the Caqasi Creek locality (CAQ).

Calibrated ages used in the model are in blue. Calibrated ages for reworked, older, rejected dates are in red. Error lines indicate 95% confidence interval (CI) calibrated dates. Rectangles indicate 68% CI calibrated date ranges.

Extended Data Fig. 8 Age-depth model for the Qaraqara Creek locality 1 (QAR 1), the older alluvial terrace.

Calibrated ages used in the model are in blue. Calibrated ages for reworked, older, rejected dates are in red. Error lines indicate 95% confidence interval (CI) calibrated dates. Rectangles indicate 68% CI calibrated date ranges.

Extended Data Fig. 9 Age-depth model for the Qaraqara Creek locality 4 (QAR 4), the younger alluvial terrace.

Calibrated ages used in the model are in blue. Calibrated ages for reworked, older, rejected dates are in red. Error lines indicate 95% confidence interval (CI) calibrated dates. Rectangles indicate 68% CI calibrated date ranges.

Extended Data Fig. 10 Age-depth model for the Tuwalu Creek locality (TUW).

Calibrated ages used in the model are in blue. Calibrated ages for reworked, older, rejected dates are in red. Error lines indicate 95% confidence interval (CI) calibrated dates. Rectangles indicate 68% CI calibrated date ranges.

Supplementary information

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Supplementary Data 1

Excel file with separate spreadsheets for (1) locations of coring localities, (2) all charcoal and isotope data binned at 50-yr intervals, (3) all radiocarbon data and (4) and all stratigraphic data for each coring locality.

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Roos, C.I., Field, J.S. & Dudgeon, J.V. Fire activity and deforestation in Remote Oceanian islands caused by anthropogenic and climate interactions. Nat Ecol Evol 7, 2028–2036 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02212-8

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