The Neolithic Revolution narrative associates early-mid Holocene domestications with the development of agriculture that fueled the rise of late Holocene civilizations. This narrative continues to be influential, even though it has been deconstructed by archaeologists and geneticists in its homeland. To further disentangle domestication from reliance on food production systems, such as agriculture, we revisit definitions of domestication and food production systems, review the late Pleistocene–early Holocene archaeobotanical record, and quantify the use, management and domestication of Neotropical plants to provide insights about the past. Neotropical plant domestication relies on common human behaviors (selection, accumulation and caring) within agroecological systems that focus on individual plants, rather than populations—as is typical of agriculture. The early archaeobotanical record includes numerous perennial and annual species, many of which later became domesticated. Some of this evidence identifies dispersal with probable cultivation, suggesting incipient domestication by 10,000 years ago. Since the Pleistocene, more than 6500, 1206 and 6261 native plant species have been used in Mesoamerica, the Central Andes and lowland South America, respectively. At least 1555, 428 and 742 are managed outside and inside food production systems, and at least 1148, 428 and 600 are cultivated, respectively, suggesting at least incipient domestication. Full native domesticates are more numerous in Mesoamerica (251) than the Andes (124) and the lowlands (45). This synthesis reveals that domestication is more common in the Neotropics than previously recognized and started much earlier than reliance on food production systems. Hundreds of ethnic groups had, and some still have, alternative strategies that do involve domestication, although they do not rely principally on food production systems, such as agriculture.

Aims The extent and persistence of pre-Columbian human legacies in old-growth Amazonian forests are still controversial, partly because modern societies reoccupied old settlements, challenging the distinction between pre-and post-Columbian legacies. Here, we compared the effects of pre-Columbian vs. recent landscape domestication processes on soils and vegetation in two Amazonian regions. Methods We studied forest landscapes at varying distances from pre-Columbian and current settlements inside protected areas occupied by traditional and indigenous peoples in the lower Tapajós and the upper-middle Madeira river basins. By conducting 69 free-listing interviews, participatory mappings, guided-tours, 27 forest inventories, and soil analysis, we assessed the influences of pre-Columbian and current activities in soils and plant resources surrounding the settlements.

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The tropical South American savannas have been occupied and manipulated by humans since the late Pleistocene. Ecologists consider that soils, hydrology, and seasonal precipitation influence the structure and composition of plants and the fire-proneness of savannas. However, the human influence on these dynamics remains uncertain. This is because little is known about human activities and what influence they have on the diversity of ecosystems. Considering this, our study sought to synthesize the management practices used by small-scale societies of the South American savannas, compile the species that are the focus of direct management, and demonstrate the role of this management in maintaining the diverse ecosystems that make up the savannas. We also set out to test the hypotheses that forms of management differ depending on the ecosystem and cultural matrices. To do so, we conducted a systematic review, in which we collected 51 articles with information about the management carried out by small-scale societies. From this, we categorized 10 management practices directed to ecosystems: protection of the ecosystem, enrichment of species, topographic changes, increased soil fertility, cleaning, prevention of fire, resource promotion, driving of game, swidden-fallow, and maintenance of ecosystem structure. We identified 19 native plant species whose populations are managed in-situ. These management practices have proven capable of keeping savanna and grassland ecosystems open and increasing the occurrence of forest ecosystems in the mosaic, as well as favoring plants of human interest in general. We note that there is a relationship between management practices with ecosystems and cultures, which suggests that both factors influence the management of landscapes. We conclude that management practices of small-scale societies are responsible for domesticating South American tropical savannas and that these savannas are composed of a mosaic of culturally constructed niches. The small-scale societies that inhabit these environments have important traditional ecological knowledge and strategies that enable the use, conservation, and restoration of savannas, extremely threatened by agribusiness today.Systematic Review Registration: [website], identifier [registration number].

The consensus is that Amazonian white-sand ecosystems (campinaranas) shelter several endemic plant species. However, recent studies have shown that most species are generalists, and they also occur in other Neotropical ecosystems. To investigate this issue, we analyzed the proportion of endemic/specialist species in a checklist of trees, palms, and shrubs sampled between 2014 and 2020 in campinarana patches of the Uatumã Sustainable Development Reserve (USDR), central Amazon. We also provide a description of phytophysiognomies, habitats, distribution, and phenology. We found 167 species belonging to 117 genera and 50 families. Fabaceae was the most representative (21 spp.), followed by Rubiaceae (16 spp.) and Chrysobalanaceae (10 spp.). We found that 30.5% of the species were exclusive to campinaranas, confirming that although there are many endemics, proportionally most species are generalists. The USDR has a rich flora specialized in oligotrophic habitats, which must be considered in the management and conservation strategies of these complex and fragile Amazonian ecosystems. 

The Paiter Suruí people in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon have a complex food system that includes insects and crustaceans. We designed our study to systematize data about the invertebrates they incorporate into their traditional diet. After conducting a review of the literature, we verified and expanded the data through semi-structured interviews with Paiter Suruí volunteers, and traced trends in their consumption of invertebrates. We identified 61 invertebrates, including 58 insects of the orders Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, and three crustaceans. While beetle larvae remain a popular choice, consumption of other insects and crustaceans seems to have diminished over time.

There is a concern that environmental threats that result in local biodiversity loss compromise traditional peoples’ livelihoods and their traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Nonetheless, studies usually only analyze how people’s characteristics influence TEK. Here, we investigated both: how the personal characteristics of local specialists (forest experience, gender, and origin) and environmental threats (deforestation, mining, and fires) influence some components of TEK associated with forests. From 2015 to 2019, we conducted free-listing interviews with 208 specialists from 27 communities in and near 10 protected areas (PAs) in Brazilian Amazonia. We recorded forest trees and palms that the specialists mentioned as used, managed, and traded. Plant knowledge was variable, since 44% of the 795 ethnospecies were mentioned only once. Using Mixed-Effects Models, we identified that people with longer forest experience and men tended to cite more used and traded ethnospecies. Women knew more about human food, while men knew more about construction and animal food. Specialists with greater forest experience knew more about protective management and planting. Specialists living in communities influenced by mining cited fewer used ethnospecies, and those in more deforested communities cited proportionally more planting. Environmental threats had smaller effects on TEK than personal characteristics. The components of TEK that we assessed highlight the forest’s great utility and the importance of management of PAs to maintain biodiversity and traditional people’s livelihoods. The communities’ stocks of TEK persisted in the face of environmental threats to PAs, highlighting the resistance of traditional peoples in the face of adversities. This quantitative approach did not show the trends that are generally imagined, i.e., loss of forest TEK, but demonstrates that if we want to change the Amazonian development model to keep the forest standing, knowledge exists and resists.