{"id":{"repo_id":"arizona-thes","oai_identifier":"oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/680188"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/arizona-thes/oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/680188","repository":{"repo_id":"arizona-thes","name":"University of Arizona","base_url":"https://repository.arizona.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Birds of a Feather: Cultural and Ecological Relationships between the Unangax̂ and Seabirds in the Aleutian Islands, AK","abstract":"This dissertation investigates how marine ecosystems and ancestral Unangax̂ communities in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska adapted to Holocene climate variability. Today, rapid warming in the Arctic/Subarctic is causing disruptions in marine ecosystems, threatening food webs and the economic and cultural livelihoods of northern Indigenous communities. Identifying the ways ecosystems and people have adapted (or failed to adapt) to long-term climate change in the past can help us anticipate and plan for future environmental disturbances. Zooarchaeological data sets can contribute to this effort by evaluating past ecosystem resilience, establishing ecological baselines, and documenting Indigenous stewardship in the past. I integrate oral/ethnohistories with analyses of archaeological seabird bones from Sanak and Agattu Islands to track changes in local marine ecosystems and ancestral Unangax̂–seabird relations. Seabirds are important sentient beings in Unangax̂ ontologies and were used in ancestral times for everyday parkas, magical guises, and bone tools. Ecologically, seabirds are important bellwethers in marine ecosystems, responding quickly to changes in prey and ocean conditions. I show that environmental disturbances and ancestral Unangax̂ bird hunting practices varied across the archipelago, prompting ancestral Unangax̂ in the eastern and western Aleutians to hunt different species of birds for raw materials and food. Results from my bulk stable isotope analyses suggest that seabirds stayed relatively stable in marine food webs over the last ~4,500 years. Noting record murre (Uria spp.) die-offs after the 2014-16 marine heatwave, my use of a novel compound-specific stable isotope application establishes ecological baselines that underscore their sensitivity to shifts in marine fish productivity. Taken together, this dissertation provides evidence that Subarctic marine ecosystems and ancestral Unangax̂ communities in the Aleutian Archipelago were quite resilient to long-term climate change throughout the Holocene.","abstract_html":"This dissertation investigates how marine ecosystems and ancestral Unangax̂ communities in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska adapted to Holocene climate variability. Today, rapid warming in the Arctic/Subarctic is causing disruptions in marine ecosystems, threatening food webs and the economic and cultural livelihoods of northern Indigenous communities. Identifying the ways ecosystems and people have adapted (or failed to adapt) to long-term climate change in the past can help us anticipate and plan for future environmental disturbances. Zooarchaeological data sets can contribute to this effort by evaluating past ecosystem resilience, establishing ecological baselines, and documenting Indigenous stewardship in the past. I integrate oral/ethnohistories with analyses of archaeological seabird bones from Sanak and Agattu Islands to track changes in local marine ecosystems and ancestral Unangax̂–seabird relations. Seabirds are important sentient beings in Unangax̂ ontologies and were used in ancestral times for everyday parkas, magical guises, and bone tools. Ecologically, seabirds are important bellwethers in marine ecosystems, responding quickly to changes in prey and ocean conditions. I show that environmental disturbances and ancestral Unangax̂ bird hunting practices varied across the archipelago, prompting ancestral Unangax̂ in the eastern and western Aleutians to hunt different species of birds for raw materials and food. Results from my bulk stable isotope analyses suggest that seabirds stayed relatively stable in marine food webs over the last ~4,500 years. Noting record murre (Uria spp.) die-offs after the 2014-16 marine heatwave, my use of a novel compound-specific stable isotope application establishes ecological baselines that underscore their sensitivity to shifts in marine fish productivity. Taken together, this dissertation provides evidence that Subarctic marine ecosystems and ancestral Unangax̂ communities in the Aleutian Archipelago were quite resilient to long-term climate change throughout the Holocene.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["LaZar, Miranda"],"institution":"The University of Arizona.","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":"Graduate College","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Stiner, Mary C."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":["Kuhn, Steven","Jolie, Edward","Lanoë, François","Misarti, Nicole"],"year":2026,"date_issued":"2026","date_published":"2026","updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:56:58Z","subjects":["Alaska","Historical Ecology","Seabirds","Stable Isotope Geochemistry","Zooarchaeology"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author."],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10150/680188","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Stiner, Mary C."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Kuhn, Steven","Jolie, Edward","Lanoë, François","Misarti, Nicole"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["LaZar, Miranda"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2026-05-19T23:52:02Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2026-05-19T23:52:02Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2026"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["The University of Arizona."]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Electronic Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Graduate College","Anthropology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Arizona"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Alaska","Historical Ecology","Seabirds","Stable Isotope Geochemistry","Zooarchaeology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright © is held by the author. 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Identifying the ways ecosystems and people have adapted (or failed to adapt) to long-term climate change in the past can help us anticipate and plan for future environmental disturbances. Zooarchaeological data sets can contribute to this effort by evaluating past ecosystem resilience, establishing ecological baselines, and documenting Indigenous stewardship in the past. I integrate oral/ethnohistories with analyses of archaeological seabird bones from Sanak and Agattu Islands to track changes in local marine ecosystems and ancestral Unangax̂–seabird relations. Seabirds are important sentient beings in Unangax̂ ontologies and were used in ancestral times for everyday parkas, magical guises, and bone tools. Ecologically, seabirds are important bellwethers in marine ecosystems, responding quickly to changes in prey and ocean conditions. I show that environmental disturbances and ancestral Unangax̂ bird hunting practices varied across the archipelago, prompting ancestral Unangax̂ in the eastern and western Aleutians to hunt different species of birds for raw materials and food. Results from my bulk stable isotope analyses suggest that seabirds stayed relatively stable in marine food webs over the last ~4,500 years. Noting record murre (Uria spp.) die-offs after the 2014-16 marine heatwave, my use of a novel compound-specific stable isotope application establishes ecological baselines that underscore their sensitivity to shifts in marine fish productivity. Taken together, this dissertation provides evidence that Subarctic marine ecosystems and ancestral Unangax̂ communities in the Aleutian Archipelago were quite resilient to long-term climate change throughout the Holocene."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Birds of a Feather: Cultural and Ecological Relationships between the Unangax̂ and Seabirds in the Aleutian Islands, AK"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Stiner, Mary C."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Kuhn, Steven","Jolie, Edward","Lanoë, François","Misarti, Nicole"],"dc:creator":["LaZar, Miranda"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2026-05-19T23:52:02Z"],"dc:date.available":["2026-05-19T23:52:02Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2026"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation investigates how marine ecosystems and ancestral Unangax̂ communities in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska adapted to Holocene climate variability. Today, rapid warming in the Arctic/Subarctic is causing disruptions in marine ecosystems, threatening food webs and the economic and cultural livelihoods of northern Indigenous communities. Identifying the ways ecosystems and people have adapted (or failed to adapt) to long-term climate change in the past can help us anticipate and plan for future environmental disturbances. Zooarchaeological data sets can contribute to this effort by evaluating past ecosystem resilience, establishing ecological baselines, and documenting Indigenous stewardship in the past. I integrate oral/ethnohistories with analyses of archaeological seabird bones from Sanak and Agattu Islands to track changes in local marine ecosystems and ancestral Unangax̂–seabird relations. Seabirds are important sentient beings in Unangax̂ ontologies and were used in ancestral times for everyday parkas, magical guises, and bone tools. Ecologically, seabirds are important bellwethers in marine ecosystems, responding quickly to changes in prey and ocean conditions. I show that environmental disturbances and ancestral Unangax̂ bird hunting practices varied across the archipelago, prompting ancestral Unangax̂ in the eastern and western Aleutians to hunt different species of birds for raw materials and food. Results from my bulk stable isotope analyses suggest that seabirds stayed relatively stable in marine food webs over the last ~4,500 years. Noting record murre (Uria spp.) die-offs after the 2014-16 marine heatwave, my use of a novel compound-specific stable isotope application establishes ecological baselines that underscore their sensitivity to shifts in marine fish productivity. Taken together, this dissertation provides evidence that Subarctic marine ecosystems and ancestral Unangax̂ communities in the Aleutian Archipelago were quite resilient to long-term climate change throughout the Holocene."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10150/680188"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["The University of Arizona."],"dc:rights":["Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["Alaska","Historical Ecology","Seabirds","Stable Isotope Geochemistry","Zooarchaeology"],"dc:title":["Birds of a Feather: Cultural and Ecological Relationships between the Unangax̂ and Seabirds in the Aleutian Islands, AK"],"dc:type":["text","Electronic Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Graduate College","Anthropology"],"thesis:degree_level":["doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Arizona"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:56:58Z"}