Distribution and Extinction of Ungulates during the Holocene of the Southern Levant

BACKGROUND: The southern Levant (Israel, Palestinian Authority and Jordan) has been continuously and extensively populated by succeeding phases of human cultures for the past 15,000 years. The long human impact on the ancient landscape has had great ecological consequences, and has caused continuous and accelerating damage to the natural environment. The rich zooarchaeological data gathered at the area provide a unique opportunity to reconstruct spatial and temporal changes in wild species distribution, and correlate them with human demographic changes. METHODOLOGY: Zoo-archaeological data (382 animal bone assemblages from 190 archaeological sites) from various time periods, habitats and landscapes were compared. The bone assemblages were sorted into 12 major cultural periods. Distribution maps showing the presence of each ungulate species were established for each period. CONCLUSIONS: The first major ungulate extinction occurred during the local Iron Age (1,200-586 BCE), a period characterized by significant human population growth. During that time the last of the largest wild ungulates, the hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus), aurochs (Bos primigenius) and the hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) became extinct, followed by a shrinking distribution of forest-dwelling cervids. A second major wave of extinction occurred only in the 19th and 20th centuries CE. Furthermore, a negative relationship was found between the average body mass of ungulate species that became extinct during the Holocene and their extinction date. It is thus very likely that the intensified human activity through habitat destruction and uncontrolled hunting were responsible for the two major waves of ungulate extinction in the southern Levant during the late Holocene

Connectivity Graphs of Uncertainty Regions

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Fish Tales from the Ballona: The Role of Fish Along the Mainland Coast of Southern California

Using a robust data set from a series of Native American sites in the Los Angeles Basin, we explore whether these coastal settlements are best characterized as representing maritime or littoral adaptations. In doing so, we examine the range of food exploited, while focusing attention on the relative role of fish, marine mammals, and terrestrial mammals in these subsistence economies. We conclude that the uniformly low exploitation of marine mammals and fish—and deep sea fish in particular—in this coastal southern California setting and many others south of Malibu is due in large part to the rich terrestrial and littoral resources of the area. As such, these more readily available foods were consistently favored over the higher risk and labor investment strategy that typifies exploitation of offshore resources. We conclude with a broader consideration of differences and similarities between Los Angeles Basin adaptations and those in other settings within southern California

Cellular versus acellular grafts for diabetic foot ulcers: altering the protocol to improve recruitment to a comparative efficacy trial

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) have a substantial impact on public health. The standard of care (SOC) for DFUs consists of a multidisciplinary approach involving glycemic control, wound care with debridement of necrotic tissue, application of a moist dressing, infection control, use of off-loading devices, and patient education. New therapeutic devices aim to target the extracellular matrix (ECM) that is impaired in DFU; however, there is insufficient data on the effectiveness of such therapies along with lack of evidence on their long-term effectiveness. We hypothesized that there is no difference in healing between the cellular matrix and an acellular matrix relative to SOC. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a randomized, single-blind clinical trial in patients with nonhealing DFUs that included 3 treatment arms: (1) SOC, (2) SOC plus a bioengineered ECM with living fibroblasts, and (3) SOC plus a bioengineered ECM devoid of cells. Our trial currently is closed for enrollment, as we have reached our target population size. Amendments to the protocol were made to help reach this threshold