Previous research has documented declines in the abundance of high-return resources including tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) over the past three millennia in central California, suggesting the occurrence of resource depression. We test the hypothesis that hunting depressed tule elk in this setting by articulating stable isotope analyses from 88 directly dated tule elk specimens with data on the age structure and skeletal part representation from the King Brown and Emeryville Shellmound sites. Late Holocene trends in stable isotopes and modeled climatic variation are inconsistent with climate-based population declines. However, at King Brown, located within the Central Valley and vast tule elk freshwater marsh and grassland habitat, increasing isotopic diversity, a decline in mean age, and increasing abundance of high-utility skeletal elements suggest local depression stimulated the increasing use of distant elk patches. Although faunal trends are consistent with the depression of elk at Emeryville, the site is located on the shore of the San Francisco Bay where limited elk habitat existed, and no evidence of distant elk patch use is indicated. This analysis underscores how human behavioral responses to resource depression can vary in relation to the local ecology as they affect patch use economics for specific prey and demonstrates how such responses can be deciphered through stable isotope and faunal data.

先前的研究记录了高回报资源丰度的下降，包括图勒麋鹿（Cervus canadensis nannodes) 在过去的三千年中，加利福尼亚中部发生了资源衰退。我们通过对 88 个直接标年图勒麋鹿标本的稳定同位素分析与来自 King Brown 和 Emeryville Shellmound 遗址的年龄结构和骨骼部分表征数据进行关联，来检验在这种情况下狩猎抑郁图勒麋鹿的假设。稳定同位素和模拟气候变化的晚全新世趋势与基于气候的人口下降不一致。然而，在位于中央山谷和广阔的图勒麋鹿淡水沼泽和草原栖息地内的金布朗，同位素多样性的增加、平均年龄的下降以及高实用性骨骼元素丰度的增加表明，当地的萧条刺激了远距离麋鹿的使用增加补丁。虽然动物群趋势与埃默里维尔麋鹿的消沉一致，但该地点位于旧金山湾沿岸，那里的麋鹿栖息地有限，并且没有证据表明远处的麋鹿斑块被使用。该分析强调了人类对资源匮乏的行为反应如何与当地生态相关，因为它们会影响特定猎物的斑块使用经济学，并展示了如何通过稳定同位素和动物群数据破译此类反应。