Palaeodietary reconstruction of endemic rodents from the precolumbian Dominican Republic: discriminating wild feeding behaviour from diets linked to human niche construction activities

We examined bone collagen carbon ( δ13Cco) and nitrogen ( δ15N) and tooth enamel carbon ( δ13Cen) isotope values of three species of hutias,Isolobodon portoricensis,I. montanus, andPlagiodontia aedium, edible rat (Brotomys sp.) and domestic guinea pig (Cavia porcellus). To estimate dietary source contributions, we employed a Bayesian dietary mixing model (FRUITS v.3.0) and ran three different permutations to assess the relative contributions of C3 or C4/CAM plants. The addition of an extra 79 wild C3 and 40 wild C4/CAM plant species ’ isotope values from published sources to an established isotopic foodweb for the Caribbean region enabled us to discriminate between wild and domestic C3 and C4/CAM plant food sources in two of these models. Our results provide evidence of the significant consumption of domestic C4/CAM plants by some animals. This likely represents maize (Zea mays) consumption, which is known to have been ubiquitously cultivated by indigenous peoples in the region. This is particularly the case forI. portoricensis, as FRUITS modelling suggests that a few individuals consumed C4/CAM plants well beyond their expected natural diets as determined from feeding studies of extant hutia species. This may indicate human influence over endemic rodent diets due to niche construction activities such as horticultural practices and may reflect either opportunistic feeding on human produce or the purposeful supplementation of hutia diets by humans.
Source: International Journal of Osteoarchaeology - Category: Science Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research