Resource Use and Subsistence Strategies on Island Frontiers

The study of resource use and subsistence strategies on island frontiers is a fascinating field that delves into the biogeography and ecological dynamics of islands. These unique environments are shaped by their terrestrial limits, proximity to mainland landscapes, and the surrounding waters, which both facilitate and limit the dispersal of organisms. For past societies inhabiting islands, these factors presented distinctive resource conditions and challenges. Communities often developed specialized subsistence adaptations that spanned terrestrial and marine ecosystems. While some adaptations led to successful long-term habitation, others resulted in island abandonment, as seen in the "mystery islands" of Polynesia and Hirta in the Outer Hebrides. These cases suggest complex socio-ecological factors influencing subsistence strategies and highlight the vulnerabilities of island communities to stochastic effects. Despite the perception of abandonment as a failure, it may represent a rational response to social or environmental pressures. Current research seeks to understand how island societies have adapted to their environments through unique resource management strategies, reflecting the insular circumstances they faced.

This research topic aims to explore how people have adapted to island environments through distinctive ways of using and managing biological resources. It seeks to answer questions about the diversity of subsistence strategies employed by island societies and how these strategies reflect the unique challenges and opportunities presented by insular environments. The research will engage a comparative perspective, examining the biogeographic, geophysical, and cultural circumstances that have shaped island societies. It will also consider the role of isolation, social interactions, and the introduction of non-local biological resources in shaping subsistence strategies. The goal is to uncover patterns of adaptation, including sustainable management practices and cultural transformations, with implications for contemporary conservation and climate change action.

To gather further insights into the global and temporal scope of island subsistence strategies, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- The process and outcome of plant or animal introductions
- Woodland management strategies
- Diachronic evolution of land and/or seascape exploitation
- Response to climate change or catastrophic events
- The role of contacts versus the duration of isolation
- Biodiversity loss or augmentation
- Integration of plant and animal data sets

We encourage submissions that employ both traditional and innovative methodological approaches, including transdisciplinary research, seda- and aDNA analysis, biomolecular analysis, and dendroprovenancing, to address new research questions in this field.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Island archaeology, Archaeobotany, Zooarchaeology, Livestock husbandry strategy, Isotope analyses, Storage systems, Genetic isolation, Wood management

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.