Using diversity indices to measure changes in prey choice at the Shag River Mouth Site, Southern New Zealand

Abstract

As in the rest of Polynesia, human colonization of New Zealand marked the beginning of tremendous change for the native flora and fauna resulting in significant habitat destruction and numerous extinctions. The loss of numerous native vertebrates, especially economically important taxa such as moas and seals, must have greatly affected the foraging economy of southern New Zealand. The effect that declining abundances of native fauna had on subsistence can be understood through the use of foraging theory models. The prey choice model, in particular, can be used to examine how foragers choose the resources they exploit. From this model we can predict changes in the diet that occur with the loss of important resources. In this paper, I explore the use of diversity indices as one means of measuring these dietary changes. Richness and evenness measures of the faunal data from the Shag River Mouth site are used to evaluate predictions made by the prey choice model about changing diet breadth and foraging efficiency. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.