Volcanism as a Factor in Human Ecology: The Aleutian Case

Abstract

It is proposed that for human populations the ecosystem of the Aleutian Islands should be considered in terms of microhabitats, because local resource availability is periodically unstable. The single food resource, marine fauna, fluctuates due to a multiplicity of biological and environmental factors, including tectonic and volcanic activity. Mass mortality of marine fauna due to tectonic and volcanic activity is documented. It is concluded that Aleutian subsistence resources were highly variable, causing frequent periods of extreme hardship, that an adaptation strategy of human groups was frequent movement resulting in intergroup conflicts, fluctuations in group size and overexploitation of local niches. It is postulated that such hardship periods affected the vital rates of human populations.