Using commensals as proxies for historical inference in the Indian Ocean : genetic and zooarchaeological perspectives
The human-abetted introduction of commensal species (i.e. those that opportunistically exploit the anthropogenic environment for food and shelter, e.g. rats, cockroaches etc.) to new areas has occurred throughout history. This has resulted in detrimental ecological changes worldwide but, from a viewpoint of human knowledge, a beneficial corollary of these translocations is that the species in question can be used as proxies to study the movement of the humans who transported them. I reconstruct colonisation histories of three widespread commensal mammalian species in the Western Indian Ocean, the black rat Rattus rattus, house mouse Mus musculus and Asian house shrew Suncus murinus, through phylogeographic studies (the geographic distribution of genetic lineages) of maternally-inherited mitochondrial markers, and zooarchaeological data. The DNA analyses are conducted on samples largely derived from museum specimens collected up to 110 years ago, and from archaeological bones (in the case of rats). I show considerable cryptic diversity in all three species, particularly in mice for which we find a potential major new lineage. Certain lineages within each species predominantly reveal long-distance translocations
Eager, Heidi M.
Archeology ; Paleozoology ; Phylogeography ; Indian Ocean ; Rattus rattus ; Mus musculus ; Suncus murinus
Using commensals as proxies for historical inference in the Indian Ocean : genetic and zooarchaeological perspectives. The human-abetted introduction of commensal species (i.e. those that opportunistically exploit the anthropogenic environment for food and shelter, e.g. rats, cockroaches etc.) to new areas has occurred throughout history. This has resulted in detrimental ecological changes worldwide but, from a viewpoint of human knowledge, a beneficial corollary of these translocations is that the species in question can be used as proxies to study the movement of the humans who transported them. I reconstruct colonisation histories of three widespread commensal mammalian species in the Western Indian Ocean, the black rat Rattus rattus, house mouse Mus musculus and Asian house shrew Suncus murinus, through phylogeographic studies (the geographic distribution of genetic lineages) of maternally-inherited mitochondrial markers, and zooarchaeological data. The DNA analyses are conducted on samples largely derived from museum specimens collected up to 110 years ago, and from archaeological bones (in the case of rats). I show considerable cryptic diversity in all three species, particularly in mice for which we find a potential major new lineage. Certain lineages within each species predominantly reveal long-distance translocations
using commensal proxy historical inference indian_ocean genetic zooarchaeological perspective human introduction commensal specie exploit anthropogenic environment food shelter rat etc new area occur throughout_history result detrimental ecological change worldwide viewpoint human_knowledge beneficial corollary specie question use proxy study movement human transport them reconstruct colonisation history widespread commensal mammalian specie western_indian_ocean black rat house asian house study geographic distribution genetic lineage inherited marker zooarchaeological_data dna analysis_conduct sample largely derive museum specimen collect archaeological_bone case rat show_considerable diversity specie particularly potential major new lineage certain lineage within specie predominantly reveal long_distance