From Songlines to genomes: Prehistoric assisted migration of a rain forest tree by Australian Aboriginal people.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Prehistoric human activities have contributed to the dispersal of many culturally important plants. The study of these traditional interactions can alter the way we perceive the natural distribution and dynamics of species and communities. Comprehensive research on native crops combining evolutionary and anthropological data is revealing how ancient human populations influenced their distribution. Although traditional diets also included a suite of non-cultivated plants that in some cases necessitated the development of culturally important technical advances such as the treatment of toxic seed, empirical evidence for their deliberate dispersal by prehistoric peoples remains limited. Here we integrate historic and biocultural research involving Aboriginal people, with ch

SUBMITTER: Rossetto M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5695580 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature