title: Intertidal resource use over millennia enhances forest productivity.
abstract: Human occupation is usually associated with degraded landscapes but 13,000 years of repeated occupation by British Columbia's coastal First Nations has had the opposite effect, enhancing temperate rainforest productivity. This is particularly the case over the last 6,000 years when intensified intertidal shellfish usage resulted in the accumulation of substantial shell middens. We show that soils at habitation sites are higher in calcium and phosphorous. Both of these are limiting factors in coastal temperate rainforests. Western redcedar (Thuja plicata) trees growing on the middens were found to be taller, have higher wood calcium, greater radial growth and exhibit less top die-back. Coastal British Columbia is the first known example of long-term intertidal resource use enhancing forest productivity and we expect this pattern to occur at archaeological sites along coastlines globally.
authors: School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1.|Hakai Institute, Calvert Island, PO Box 309, Heriot Bay, British Columbia, Canada BC V0P 1H0.|School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 2Y2.
authors: Andrew J
authors: AJ
authors: Trant
authors: Hakai Institute, Calvert Island, PO Box 309, Heriot Bay, British Columbia, Canada BC V0P 1H0.|School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 2Y2.|Department of Geography, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 2Y2.
authors: Wiebe
authors: 0000-0002-2665-0947
authors: W
authors: Nijland
authors: Hakai Institute, Calvert Island, PO Box 309, Heriot Bay, British Columbia, Canada BC V0P 1H0.|School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 2Y2.
authors: Kira M
authors: KM
authors: Hoffman
authors: Hakai Institute, Calvert Island, PO Box 309, Heriot Bay, British Columbia, Canada BC V0P 1H0.|School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 2Y2.
authors: Darcy L
authors: DL
authors: Mathews
authors: Hakai Institute, Calvert Island, PO Box 309, Heriot Bay, British Columbia, Canada BC V0P 1H0.|Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 2Y2.
authors: Duncan
authors: D
authors: McLaren
authors: Hakai Institute, Calvert Island, PO Box 309, Heriot Bay, British Columbia, Canada BC V0P 1H0.|School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, PO Box 875302, Tempe, Arizona 85287-5302, USA.
authors: Trisalyn A
authors: TA
authors: Nelson
authors: Hakai Institute, Calvert Island, PO Box 309, Heriot Bay, British Columbia, Canada BC V0P 1H0.|School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 2Y2.
authors: Brian M
authors: BM
authors: Starzomski
mesh_terms: D001955:British Columbia; D002118:Calcium / Q000737:chemistry; D006802:Human Activities; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000737:chemistry; D065947:Rainforest; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D029783:Thuja / Q000502:physiology*; D055871:Tidal Waves; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D010758:Phosphorus; D002118:Calcium