PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Communities in resource-poor areas face health, food production, sustainability, and overall survival challenges. Consequently, they are commonly featured in global debates surrounding societal collapse. Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is often used as an example of how overexploitation of limited resources resulted in a catastrophic population collapse. A vital component of this narrative is that the rapid rise and fall of pre-contact Rapanui population growth rates was driven by the construction and overexploitation of once extensive rock gardens. However, the extent of island-wide rock gardening, while key for understanding food systems and demography, must be better understood. Here, we use shortwave infrared (SWIR) satellite imagery and machine learning to generate an island-wide estimate of rock gardening and reevaluate previous population size models for Rapa Nui. We show that the extent of this agricultural infrastructure is substantially less than previously claimed and likely could not have supported the large population sizes that have been assumed.
摘要：
资源贫乏地区的社区面临健康,粮食生产,可持续性和整体生存挑战。因此,它们在围绕社会崩溃的全球辩论中很常见。拉帕努伊岛（复活岛）经常被用作一个例子，说明有限资源的过度开发如何导致灾难性的人口崩溃。这种叙述的一个重要组成部分是，接触前Rapanui人口增长率的快速上升和下降是由曾经广泛的岩石花园的建设和过度开发驱动的。然而,全岛岩石园艺的程度，虽然理解食物系统和人口的关键，必须更好地理解。这里,我们使用短波红外（SWIR）卫星图像和机器学习来生成全岛范围的岩石园艺估计，并重新评估RapaNui的先前种群规模模型。我们表明，这种农业基础设施的范围大大小于先前声称的范围，并且可能无法支持已经假设的庞大人口规模。
