Taxonomy of the Oenocarpus-Jessenia (Palmae) complex in Brazil

Balick, Michael J.

doi:10.1590/1809-43921985155114

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As substantiated in the later discussion, Waorani ancestors' dispersal of the seeds and protection of seedlings of this economically important palm partly explain why it exhibits dominance among orthogonal plants in the size category of greater than 10 cm in diameter at breast height (1.3 m from the ground) in ridgetop forests. Indigenous groups in the Upper Amazon also consume proteinaceous palm grubs from fallen trees and may also take the heart of palm from juvenile specimens (Balick 1986). Laura Rival (2016:52) noted,…”

Section: Cultural Forestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for Landscape Transformation of Ridgetop Forests in Amazonian Ecuador

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Napo River basin, which is situated within the Upper Amazon archaeological region, is one of the most speciose forests in Greater Amazonia. Standard thinking in scholarship and science holds that these forests are essentially pristine because any Indigenous impacts in the past would have been minimal, seedbanks would have been nearby, and natural forests would have reappeared after the humans left, died out, or dispersed. Inventory research in 2019 on three ridgetop forests in Waorani territory inside the Curaray basin (which drains to the right margin of the Napo River) and a comparable inventory on one control site forest along the Nushiño River (also in the Curaray basin) show human impacts from about the late nineteenth century to about 1960; they occurred during the period of wartime among Waorani themselves and between Wao people and outsiders. The human impacts resulted in the high basal-area presence of two long-lived species with important Waorani cultural uses: cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) and ungurahua palm (Oenocarpus bataua Mart.). These species have high frequency and dominance values and do not occur in the control site, which is comparable in terms of elevation above the flood zone of the rivers in the sample. These findings mean that alpha diversity in the right margin sector (or south) of the Napo River basin cannot a priori be explained by reference to traditionally, biologically accepted patterns of ecological succession but may require knowledge of historical patterns of Indigenous land use and secondary landscape transformation over time due to human (specifically Waorani) impacts of the past.

show abstract

Section: Cultural Forestsmentioning

confidence: 99%