Aleuts, Sea Otters, and Alternate Stable-State Communities

Charles A. Simenstad; James A. Estes; Karl W. Kenyon

doi:10.1126/science.200.4340.403

Abstract

Reexamination of stratified faunal components of a prehistoric Aleut midden excavated on Amchitka Island, Alaska, indicates that Aleut prey items changed dramatically during 2500 years of aboriginal occupation. Recent ecological studies in the Aleutian Islands have shown the concurrent existence of two alternate stable nearshore communities, one dominated by macroalgae, the other by epibenthic herbivores, which are respectively maintained by the presence or absence of dense sea otter populations. Thus, rather than cultural shifts in food preference, the changes in Aleut prey were probably the result of local overexploitation of sea otters by aboriginal Aleuts.

Keywords

OverexploitationOtterMiddenPredationPrehistoryEcologyGeographyFisheryHerbivoreArchaeologyBiology

Affiliated Institutions

Related Publications

Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification

Ove Hoegh‐Guldberg , Peter J. Mumby , Anthony J. Hooten +14 more

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is expected to exceed 500 parts per million and global temperatures to rise by at least 2°C by 2050 to 2100, values that significantly e...

2007 Science 5783 citations

Quantifying Threats to Imperiled Species in the United States

David S. Wilcove , David E. Rothstein , Jason Dubow +2 more

iologists are nearly unanimous in their belief that humanity is in the process of extirpating a significant portion of the earth's species.The ways in which we are doing so refl...

1998 BioScience 3085 citations

El Niño as a Window of Opportunity for the Restoration of Degraded Arid Ecosystems

Milena Holmgren , Marten Scheffer

2001 Ecosystems 250 citations

Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People

Hubert Charles , J. R. Beddington , I. R. Crute +7 more

Continuing population and consumption growth will mean that the global demand for food will increase for at least another 40 years. Growing competition for land, water, and ener...

2010 Science 11375 citations

Freshwater biodiversity: importance, threats, status and conservation challenges

David Dudgeon , Angela H. Arthington , Mark O. Gessner +8 more

ABSTRACT Freshwater biodiversity is the over‐riding conservation priority during the International Decade for Action ‐‘Water for Life’ ‐ 2005 to 2015. Fresh water makes up only ...

2005 Biological reviews/Biological reviews... 7866 citations

Publication Info

Year: 1978
Type: article
Volume: 200
Issue: 4340
Pages: 403-411
Citations: 370
Access: Closed

External Links

View on DOI.org

Social Impact

Altmetric

Aleuts, Sea Otters, and Alternate Stable-State Communities

PlumX Metrics

Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

Citation Metrics

370

OpenAlex

Cite This

APA Style

                            
                                    Charles A. Simenstad, 
                                
                                    James A. Estes, 
                                
                                    Karl W. Kenyon
                                
                            (1978). 
                            Aleuts, Sea Otters, and Alternate Stable-State Communities. 
                            Science
                            , 200
                            (4340)
                            , 403-411.
                            https://doi.org/10.1126/science.200.4340.403

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1126/science.200.4340.403