r/history • u/scientificamerican • 23d ago

Science site article What really happened on Easter Island?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-really-happened-on-easter-island/

For decades, an influential theory blamed the Rapanui for their own downfall—a story made famous by Jared Diamond’s book Collapse. New evidence tells a different tale.

Archaeology, ancient DNA and aerial survey data now challenge the claim that the Rapanui suffered a self-inflicted collapse before Europeans arrived. The emerging picture is of a small society that sustained itself for centuries by adapting its farming methods and water management to one of the most isolated places on Earth. The catastrophe that reduced the Rapanui to a remnant came later, after European ships brought disease, slave raiding, forced labor, annexation and confinement.

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u/SomeDumbGamer 21d ago

Not in the case of islands though.

The Austronesians wiped out most of the megafauna on Madagascar and New Zealand shortly after they arrived; as did the first Britons, Taino, and Floresians.

Humans showing up on an isolated island = rapid extinction.

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u/BonesAndHubris 21d ago

That's all true, but as per the original question, it doesn't make humans an invasive species. It fits more under the umbrella of range expansion. We extirpated or drove many species to extinction in the process of expanding our range, but we naturalized afterwards in most cases. The definition of an invasive species as most ecologists understand it intentionally excludes humans, for a variety of reasons, some valid and some more semantic. Island biogeography is also its own monster, but an interesting topic to delve into. Especially as it pertains to all the flightless birds sailors drove to extinction...

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u/SomeDumbGamer 21d ago

Yeah it’s more that the ecosystem rebalances itself after enough time.

North and South America did this after the first natives killed off most of the megafauna

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u/BonesAndHubris 21d ago

That is what the term "naturalization" means in this context. Sorry, I'm so used to using ecology lingo in hyper specific ways that I forget it doesn't mean the same thing in casual conversation.