Insights from historical human-clam coexistence

October 16, 2019

Butter clams from 11,500-11,000 years ago (left) and 10,900-9,500 years ago (right) showing the sometimes dramatic differences in size through time. Credit: Ginevra Toniello

Coastal ecosystems are not only threatened by habitat loss and climate change; a breakdown of traditional aquaculture practices could also have contributed significantly to their deterioration.

This has been illustrated by an 11,500-year analysis of human coexistence with clams in British Columbia, Canada, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.