Patricia Pillay: Time Flies: Profiling Avian Histories in the Marquesas Islands

My PhD research investigates the cultural and ecological relationships between humans and native birds over time on Nuku Hiva, the largest Marquesan Island in East Polynesia. Birds were valued by Polynesian Indigenous peoples as a food source and for their colourful feathers, which were used for personal adornment and chiefly regalia. However, Island biota are particularly vulnerable to human settlement, and numerous Marquesan bird species extinctions over time risk the loss of Indigenous knowledge related to them. I focus on tracking long-term human-bird interactions as understood by the archaeological record, museum and historical collections, as well as ancient DNA analysis. My research demonstrates that avian taxa, and their important cultural connections, may be missed if only one information source is examined. Understanding the loss and persistence of Marquesan species in relation to human activity over time has wider implications for conservation of current threatened endemic avifauna in East Polynesia.