The record of past human adaptations provides crucial lessons for guiding responses to crises in the future. To date, there have been no systematic global comparisons of humans' ability to absorb and recover from disturbances through time. Here we synthesized resilience across a broad sample of prehistoric population time-frequency data, spanning 30,000 years of human history. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of population decline show that frequent disturbances enhance a population's capacity to resist and recover from later downturns. Land-use patterns are important mediators of the strength of this positive association: farming and herding societies are more vulnerable but also more resilient overall. The results show that important trade-offs exist when adopting new or alternative land-use strategies.

Frequent disturbances enhanced the resilience of past human populations

Alessio Palmisano;
2024-01-01

Abstract

The record of past human adaptations provides crucial lessons for guiding responses to crises in the future. To date, there have been no systematic global comparisons of humans' ability to absorb and recover from disturbances through time. Here we synthesized resilience across a broad sample of prehistoric population time-frequency data, spanning 30,000 years of human history. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of population decline show that frequent disturbances enhance a population's capacity to resist and recover from later downturns. Land-use patterns are important mediators of the strength of this positive association: farming and herding societies are more vulnerable but also more resilient overall. The results show that important trade-offs exist when adopting new or alternative land-use strategies.
2024
1
8
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07354-8
Philip Riris; Fabio Silva; Enrico Crema; Alessio Palmisano; Erick Robinson; Peter E. Siegel; Jennifer C. French; Erlend Kirkeng Jørgensen; Shira Yoshi...espandi
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1975150
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