Fire activity and deforestation in Remote Oceanian islands caused by anthropogenic and climate interactions

Abstract

Remote islands in the Pacific Ocean (Oceania) experienced dramatic environmental transformations after initial human settlement in the past 3,000 yr. Here, human causality of this environmental degradation has been unquestioned and viewed as evidence of the inherent destructive tendencies of human societies in both archaeological and popular discourse. We use charcoal and stable carbon isotopes from deep soil cores to reconstruct the dynamics of fire activity and deforestation across the Sigatoka River valley on the leeward (dry) side of Viti Levu, Fiji. Fires and pyrogenic patches of grassland predated human settlement by millennia, but the magnitude of fire activity and landscape transformation accelerated with the establishment and expansion of swidden agriculture. Regional comparisons with previous studies in Fiji and elsewhere in Remote Oceania settled between 3,200 and 2,900 yr BP reveal a similar pattern of pre- and post-settlement fire activity and landscape change. Pre-settlement fires generally corresponded to droughts, probably driven by El Niño, often correlating with drought-driven wildfires elsewhere in the region. Post-settlement, charcoal and C₄ grasses increased dramatically, but nearly all major peaks in charcoal and grasses corresponded to increased El Niño activity. This indicates that fire activity and deforestation were a product of the interaction between swidden agriculture and climate rather than land use alone.