Persistent effects of pre-Columbian plant domestication on Amazonian forest composition

Persistent effects of pre-Columbian plant domestication on Amazonian forest composition

The extent to which pre-Columbian societies altered Amazonian landscapes is hotly debated. We performed a basin-wide analysis of pre-Columbian impacts on Amazonian forests by overlaying known archaeological sites in Amazonia with the distributions and abundances of 85 woody species domesticated by p...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Levis, Carolina, Costa, Flávia R.C., Bongers, Frans, Peña-Claros, Marielos, Clement, Charles R., Junqueira, André B., Neves, Eduardo G., Tamanaha, Eduardo K., Figueiredo, Fernando O.G., Salomão, Rafael P., Castilho, Carolina V., Magnusson, William E., Phillips, Oliver L., Guevara, Juan Ernesto, Sabatier, Daniel, Molino, Jean-François, Cárdenas López, Dairon, Monteagudo Mendoza, Abel, Pitman, Nigel C.A., Duque, Alvaro, Núñez Vargas, Percy, Zartman, Charles Eugene, Vasquez, Rodolfo, Andrade, Ana, Camargo, José Luís, Feldpausch, Ted R., Laurance, Susan G.W., Laurance, William F., Killeen, Timothy J., Mendonça Nascimento, Henrique Eduardo, Montero, Juan Carlos, Mostacedo, Bonifacio, Leão Amaral, Iêda, van der Heijden, Geertje, Guimarães Vieira, Ima Célia, ter Steege, Hans
Format: Article
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2017
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40261/
Description
Summary:The extent to which pre-Columbian societies altered Amazonian landscapes is hotly debated. We performed a basin-wide analysis of pre-Columbian impacts on Amazonian forests by overlaying known archaeological sites in Amazonia with the distributions and abundances of 85 woody species domesticated by pre-Columbian peoples. Domesticated species are five times more likely to be hyperdominant than non-domesticated species. Across the basin the relative abundance and richness of domesticated species increases in forests on and around archaeological sites. In southwestern and eastern Amazonia distance to archaeological sites strongly influences the relative abundance and richness of domesticated species. Our analyses indicate that modern tree communities in Amazonia are structured to an important extent by a long history of plant domestication by Amazonian peoples.

Similar Items