Douglas Bird
Associate Professor of Anthropology

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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
Publication Tags
Desert Ecosystem Hunting Climate Society Subsistence Western Australia Food Deserts Hunters Altruism Effect History Human Behavior Lizards Hunter Gatherer Foraging Interaction Extinction Ecosystems Climate Change Group Size Cognition Behavioral Ecology Social NetworkMost Recent Papers
A collaborative agenda for archaeology and fire science
Grant Snitker, Douglas Bird, 2022, Nature Ecology & Evolution
Climate, landscape diversity, and food sovereignty in arid Australia: The firestick farming hypothesis
R Bliege Bird, Douglas Bird, 2021, AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY
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
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. 20342-20345
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
Mobility, subsistence, and technological strategies of early Holocene hunter-gatherers in the Bolivian Altiplano
José M. Capriles, Juan Albarracin-Jordan, Douglas W. Bird, Steven T. Goldstein, Gabriela M. Jarpa, Sergio Calla Maldonado, Calogero M. Santoro, 2018, Quaternary International on p. 190-205
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Megafauna in a continent of small game
Douglas W. Bird, Brian F. Codding, Rebecca Bliege Bird, David W. Zeanah, Curtis J. Taylor, 2013, Quaternary International on p. 155-166
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