Ancient DNA Analysis and Stable Isotope Ecology of Sea Turtles (Cheloniidae) from the Gold Rush-era (1850s) Eastern Pacific Ocean

Historical and archaeological evidence documents the importation of sea turtles from the eastern Pacific Ocean (Baja California) to California during the Gold Rush (1848–1855) and through the end of 19th century, but it is unknown whether these 19th century sea turtles foraged in similar ways to their modern counterparts. To identify the species of two Gold Rush-era sea turtle specimens recovered from archaeological deposits in San Francisco, California, we first analyze ancient DNA (aDNA). We then analyze carbon (δ13Ccol), nitrogen (δ15N), and hydrogen (δD) stable isotopes of bone collagen and carbon (δ13Cap) and oxygen (δ18Oap) stable isotopes of bone apatite to test if eastern Pacific sea turtle diets have changed over the past 160 years. Ancient DNA confirms that both archaeological specimens are green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). The stable isotope values from the 19th-century specimens are statistically indistinguishable from the modern comparatives in both δ13Ccoland δ15N, suggesting that green sea turtle dietary intake has remained relatively unchanged since the 1850s. However, the values are unclear for δD and δ18Oapand require additional research.Support for this work came the University of Oklahoma Libraries Open Access Fund.YesOpen Quaternary is an international peer-reviewed venue for contributions that consider the changing environment of the Quaternary, as well as the development of humanity

Green intentions under the blue flag: Exploring differences in EU consumers’ willingness to pay more for environmentally-friendly products

Recent research on consumer social responsibility highlights the need to examine psychological drivers of environmentally-friendly consumption choices in a global context. This paper investigates consumers’ willingness to pay more (WTP) for environmentally-friendly products across 28 European Union (EU) countries, using a sample of 21,514 consumers. A Multigroup Structural Equation Modeling analysis reveals significantly different patterns and relationships, in how (a) subjective knowledge about the product’s environmental impact, (b) environmental product attitudes and (c) the perceived importance of the products’ environmental impact influence consumers’ WTP more for environmentally-friendly products across countries. The hypothesized model predicts WTP for 20 out of 28 countries and the findings show that a ‘one-fits-all’ approach is inadequate in capturing the heterogeneity of EU consumers. Hosfstede’s cultural dimensions of uncertainty tolerance and individualism explain differences in WTP for environmentally-friendly products across EU countries. Business, marketing communications, and policy making implications are discussed

Historic and modern eastern Pacific green sea turtle stable isotopes

Stable isotope data, specimen photographs and R script for the Gold Rush-era sea turtle specimens from San Francisco, California. The stable isotope data are saved as .csv files. R script is provided as a zip file (OQ_SeaTurtle-master.zip) created from the repository developed and hosted at https://github.com/cylerc/OQ_SeaTurtle. Note: Some stable isotope data provided during analyses are from previously published sources (see .csv files and manuscript for references). This repository dataset is described in the manuscript: Conrad, C., L. Pagès Barceló, J.A. Seminoff, C.N. Turner Tomaszewicz, M.J. Labonte, B.M. Kemp, E.L. Jones, M. Stoyka, K. Bruner and A.G. Pastron. in press. Ancient DNA Analysis and Stable Isotope Ecology of Sea Turtles (Cheloniidae) from the Gold Rush-era (1850s) Eastern Pacific Ocean. Open Quaternary. https://www.openquaternary.com/articles/10.5334/oq.41

At the Foot of the Smoking Mountains: The 2014 Scientific Investigations in the Islands of the Four Mountains

An interdisciplinary research team conducted archaeological, geological, and biological investigations in the Islands of the Four Mountains, Alaska during the summer of 2014 as part of a three-year project to study long-term geological and ecological patterns and processes with respect to human settlement. Researchers investigated three archaeological sites on Chuginadak Island (SAM-0014, SAM-0016 and SAM-0047) and two archaeological sites on Carlisle Island (AMK-0003 and SAM-0034) as well as peat, tephra, and lava deposition on those islands. These investigations resulted in the delineation of archaeological sites, documentation of geological and cultural stratigraphy, excavation of house-pit features, visual characterization and sampling of potential lithic sources, and documentation of Unangan occupation in the Islands of the Four Mountains from roughly 3,800 years ago to Russian contact