Notes

Ecocide- example is a small group of Polynesians made their way there, settled in and began to farm. When they arrived, the place was covered with trees as many as 16 million of them, some towering 100 feet high.
These settlers were farmers, practicing slash and burn agriculture, so they burned down woods, opened spaces, and began to multiply. Pretty soon the island had too many people, too few trees, and then, in only a few generations, no trees at all.
Rat outbreak- example is In laboratory settings, Polynesian rat populations can double in 47 days. Throw a breeding pair into an island with no predators and abundant food suggests the result If the animals multiplied Easter Island would quickly have housed between two and three million. Among the favorite food sources of tree seeds and tree sprouts. Humans surely cleared some of the forest, but the real damage would have come from the rats that prevented new growth.
Climate change- example is A second set of hypotheses deal with a possible massive impact of past climate changes, like prolonged droughts, on an already sensible and instable island environment and society. Co