Archaeological sites data.

Anthropogenic impacts on tropical and subtropical coastal environments are increasing at an alarming rate, compromising ecosystem functions, structures and services. Understanding the scale of marine population decline and diversity loss requires a long-term perspective that incorporates information from a range of sources. The Southern Atlantic Ocean represents a major gap in our understanding of pre-industrial marine species composition. Here we begin to fill this gap by performing an extensive review of the published data on Middle and Late Holocene marine fish remains along the southern coast of Brazil. This region preserves archaeological sites that are unique archives of past socio-ecological systems and pre-European biological diversity. We assessed snapshots of species compositions and relative abundances spanning the last 9500 years, and modelled differences in species’ functional traits between archaeological and modern fisheries. We found evidence for both generalist and specialist fishing practices in pre-European times, with large body size and body mass caught regularly over hundreds of years. Comparison with modern catches revealed a significant decline in these functional traits, possibly associated with overfishing and escalating human impacts in recent times.

人为影响（Anthropogenic impacts）对热带及亚热带沿海环境的破坏正以惊人速度加剧，正损害生态系统的功能、结构与服务。要厘清海洋种群衰退与生物多样性丧失的规模，需整合多源信息以构建长期研究视角。南大西洋（Southern Atlantic Ocean）是当前学界对工业化前海洋物种组成认知的一大空白。本研究通过对巴西南部沿海地区中全新世（Middle Holocene）与晚全新世（Late Holocene）海相鱼类遗存的已发表数据展开全面综述，旨在填补这一研究空白。该区域留存有诸多考古遗址，是还原过去社会-生态系统（socio-ecological systems）与前欧洲殖民时期生物多样性的独特档案库。我们梳理了过去9500年间的物种组成与相对丰度快照，并针对考古渔业与现代渔业间的物种功能性状（functional traits）差异构建了模型。研究发现，前欧洲殖民时期存在广谱型与特化型两种捕捞模式，数百年来人类始终规律性捕获大体型、高体质量的鱼类。与现代渔获物对比后发现，上述功能性状的丰度已出现显著下降，这或与近期过度捕捞（overfishing）及不断加剧的人类活动影响密切相关。