title: A continuous climatic impact on Holocene human population in the Rocky Mountains.
abstract: Ancient cultural changes have often been linked to abrupt climatic events, but the potential that climate can exert a persistent influence on human populations has been debated. Here, independent population, temperature, and moisture history reconstructions from the Bighorn Basin in Wyoming (United States) show a clear quantitative relationship spanning 13 ka, which explains five major periods of population growth/decline and ~45% of the population variance. A persistent ~300-y lag in the human demographic response conforms with either slow (~0.3%) intrinsic annual population growth rates or a lag in the environmental carrying capacity, but in either case, the population continuously adjusted to changing environmental conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82070, USA. rlkelly@uwyo.edu
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Todd A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Surovell
authors.forename: Bryan N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Shuman
authors.forename: Geoffrey M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000883:Anthropology; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis; D002980:Climate; D003710:Demography; D004777:Environment; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D062070:Hydrology; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011891:Rain; D013696:Temperature; D014959:Wyoming
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes