Douglas Bird

Associate Professor of Anthropology

323B Carpenter Building
University Park, PA 16802
dwb5537@psu.edu
814-863-1096

Research Summary

Livelihood decisions and habitats, exploring the dynamics of human subsistence practices, their role in ecosystem function, and their archaeological implications in Australia and Western North America.

Huck Affiliations

Ecology

Ecology Institute

Publication Tags

Climate Ecosystem Hunting Desert Food Subsistence Altruism Western Australia Effect Human Behavior Archaeology Hunters Deserts Society History Climate Change Interaction Lizards Foraging Population Ecosystems Fire Regime Mutualism Sovereignty Behavioral Ecology

Most Recent Papers

Deconstructing Hunting Returns

Eugène Morin, Douglas Bird, Bruce Winterhalder, Rebecca Bliege Bird, 2021, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory

Mass procurement and prey rankings: insights from the European rabbit

Eugène Morin, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Douglas Bird, 2020, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

Erratum

Jeffrey H. Altschul, Keith W. Kintigh, Mark Aldenderfer, Elise Alonzi, Ian Armit, Juan Antonio Barceló, Christopher S. Beekman, Penny Bickle, Douglas W. Bird, Scott E. Ingram, Elena Isayev, Andrew W. Kandel, Rachael Kiddey, Hélène Timpoko Kienon-Kaboré, Franco Niccolucci, Corey S. Ragsdale, Beth K. Scaffidi, Scott G. Ortman, 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on p. 27059

To understand how migrations affect human securities, look to the past

Fire mosaics and habitat choice in nomadic foragers

Rebecca Bliege Bird, Chloe McGuire, Douglas W. Bird, Michael H. Price, David Zeanah, Dale G. Nimmo, 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on p. 12904-12914

The life history of human foraging: Cross-cultural and individual variation

Jeremy Koster, Richard McElreath, Kim Hill, Douglas Yu, Glenn Shepard, Nathalie Van Vliet, Michael Gurven, Benjamin Trumble, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Douglas Bird, Brian Codding, Lauren Coad, Luis Pacheco-Cobos, Bruce Winterhalder, Karen Lupo, Dave Schmitt, Paul Sillitoe, Margaret Franzen, Michael Alvard, Vivek Venkataraman, Thomas Kraft, Kirk Endicott, Stephen Beckerman, Stuart A. Marks, Thomas Headland, Margaretha Pangau-Adam, Anders Siren, Karen Kramer, Russell Greaves, Victoria Reyes-García, Maximilien Guèze, Romain Duda, Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, Sandrine Gallois, Lucentezza Napitupulu, Roy Ellen, John Ziker, Martin R. Nielsen, Elspeth Ready, Christopher Healey, Cody Ross, 2020, Science advances

Climate, landscape diversity, and food sovereignty in arid Australia: The firestick farming hypothesis

Rebecca Bliege Bird, Douglas W. Bird, 2020, American Journal of Human Biology

Variability in the organization and size of hunter-gatherer groups: Foragers do not live in small-scale societies

Douglas W. Bird, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Brian F. Codding, David W. Zeanah, 2019, Journal of Human Evolution on p. 96-108

Subsistence Transitions and the Simplification of Ecological Networks in the Western Desert of Australia

Stefani A. Crabtree, Douglas W. Bird, Rebecca Bliege Bird, 2019, Human Ecology on p. 165-177

Human fire legacies on ecological landscapes

Mitchell J. Power, Brian F. Codding, Alan H. Taylor, Thomas W. Swetnam, Kate E. Magargal, Douglas W. Bird, James F. O’connell, 2018, Frontiers in Earth Science

Most-Cited Papers

Behavioral ecology and the future of archaeological science

Brian F. Codding, Douglas W. Bird, 2015, Journal of Archaeological Science on p. 9-20

Aboriginal hunting buffers climate-driven fire-size variability in Australia's spinifex grasslands

Rebecca Bliege Bird, Brian F. Codding, Peter G. Kauhanen, Douglas W. Bird, 2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on p. 10287-10292

Niche construction and Dreaming logic

Rebecca Bliege Bird, Nyalangka Tayor, Brian F. Codding, Douglas W. Bird, 2013, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Human behaviour as a long-term ecological driver of non-human evolution

Alexis P. Sullivan, Douglas W. Bird, George H. Perry, 2017, Nature Ecology and Evolution

Conservation or co-evolution? Intermediate levels of aboriginal burning and hunting have positive effects on kangaroo populations in Western Australia

Brian F. Codding, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Peter G. Kauhanen, Douglas W. Bird, 2014, Human Ecology on p. 659-669

A landscape architecture of fire

Douglas W. Bird, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Brian F. Codding, Nyalangka Taylor, 2016, Current Anthropology on p. S65-S79

Aboriginal burning promotes fine-scale pyrodiversity and native predators in Australia's Western Desert

Rebecca Bliege Bird, Douglas W. Bird, Luis E. Fernandez, Nyalanka Taylor, Wakka Taylor, Dale Nimmo, 2018, Biological Conservation on p. 110-118

The hierarchy of virtue

Rebecca Bliege Bird, Brooke Scelza, Douglas W. Bird, Eric Alden Smith, 2012, Evolution and Human Behavior on p. 64-78

People, El Niño southern oscillation and fire in Australia: Fire regimes and climate controls in hummock grasslands

Rebecca Bliege Bird, Douglas W. Bird, Brian F. Codding, 2016, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Shellfishing and human evolution

Richard G. Klein, Douglas W. Bird, 2016, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology on p. 198-205

News Articles Featuring Douglas Bird

Dec 18, 2019

Playing with tools—and weapons—was a ‘normal’ part of prehistoric childhood

Prehistoric children may have been cherished by their parents—but until recently, they’ve been neglected by many archaeologists, who assumed that childhood is simply about toys and games. Now, a new study adds to the growing literature that prehistoric children were hard workers, who learned from an early age to use the weapons and tools that would help them with the rigors of adulthood.

Full Article

Feb 08, 2019

Aboriginal Hunters’ Fires Help Restore an Australian Desert

A study of how the Martu shaped their land presents an example where humans seem to benefit an environment perceived as wilderness.

Full Article