Ecosystems, paleoecology and human disturbance in subtropical and tropical america

Binford, Michael W.; Brenner, Mark; Whitmore, Thomas J.; Higuera-Gundy, Antonia; Deevey, Edward S.; Leyden, Barbara W.

doi:10.1016/0277-3791(87)90029-1

Cited by 129 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…This long-term stability demonstrates that the use of indigenous landscape practices may be appropriate for modern conservation (67-71) but only if (39) care is taken to resolve the causes and practices that led to past failures (31).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A reexamination of human-induced environmental change within the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico

Fisher

Pollard²,

Israde-Alcántara³

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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This paper presents 2,000 years of settlement and land use within the Lake Pá tzcuaro Basin, Mexico. Three findings challenge the conclusions of previous research. We show (i) that initial land degradation was caused by settlement, not by agriculture; (ii) that population density inversely correlates with erosion; and (iii) that land degradation was associated with European Conquest but not from the introduction of the Euro-agro suite. Instead, demographic collapse caused by European-introduced disease prevented human-generated landscapes from being maintained, resulting in widespread degradation. These findings support the use of indigenous landscape technology for modern conservation if past failings can be resolved.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are three central issues: (i) Although environmental degradation in Preclassic Mesoamerica (including the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin) is not in dispute (1,13,31,32), its cause is largely unknown. Did it result from agricultural practices, settlement construction, or some other human activity?…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A reexamination of human-induced environmental change within the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico

Fisher

Pollard²,

Israde-Alcántara³

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Changes in the vegetation mosaic through the Holocene interval are interpretable from pollen and plant-macrofossil evidence preserved in lake sediments (see Bryant and Holloway 1985 for complete bibliographies to all North American literature in Quaternary pollen analysis). Paleolimnologic evidence of changes in water quality and coupled watershed-lake ecosystems is available in the form of fossil diatoms, cladocera, biochemical pigments, and in stratigraphic profiles of elements such as nitrogen and phosphorus (Likens 1985;Binford et al 1987;Davis 1987). Evidence of prehistoric land use can be gleaned from the archaeological and paleoethnobiological (both floral and faunal) record (Butzer 1982;Dincauze 1987;McAndrews 1988).…”

Section: Landscape Changes Prior To Euro-american Colonization Of Normentioning

confidence: 99%

Quaternary landscape ecology: Relevant scales in space and time

Delcourt

1988

Landscape Ecol

268

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Two primary goals of landscape ecologists are to (1) evaluate changes in ecological pattern and process on natural landscapes through time and (2) determine the ecological consequences of transforming natural landscapes to cultural ones. Paleoecological techniques can be used to reconstruct past landscapes and their changes through time; use of paleoecological methods of investigation in combination with geomorphic and paleoethnobiological data, historical records, and shorter-term ecological data sets makes it possible to integrate long-term ecological pattern and process on a nested series of temporal and spatial scales. 'Natural experiments' of the past can be used to test alternative hypotheses about the relative influences of environmental change, biological interactions, and human activities in structuring biotic communities within landscape mosaics.On the absolute time scale of the Quaternary Period, spanning the past 1.8 million years, current distributional ranges of the biota have taken shape and modern biotic communities have assembled. Quaternary environmental changes have influenced the development of natural landscapes over time scales o,f centuries to hundreds of thousands of years; human cultural evolution has resulted in the transformation of much of the biosphere from natural to cultural landscapes over the past 5,000 years. The Quaternary extends to and includes the present and the immediate future. Knowledge of landscape changes on a Quaternary time scale is essential to landscape ecologists who wish to have a context for predicting future trends on local, regional, and global scales.

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“…We hope to learn about the environmental impact of agriculture, industry, and urban development on watersheds in southern China. The work in Yunnan extends the geographic scope of paleolimnological research conducted by the U.S. investigators in several other subtropical and tropical karst regions (Binford et al, 1987). This paper reports preliminary results from an 1 l-m core taken in Qilu Hu, a lake located about 100 km south of Kunming, Yunnan's capital (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Paleolimnology of Qilu Hu, Yunnan Province, China

Brenner

Dorsey

Xueliang³

et al. 1991

Hydrobiologia

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Qilu Hu is a large (A = 36.9 km2), shallow (z,,, = 6.8 m) lake that lies at an elevation of 1797 m above msl on the Yunnan Plateau, southern China. Lake waters are hard (Mg = 3.2 meq L-', Ca = 1.3 meq L-'), fresh (conductivity = 380 PS cm-I), and productive (Secchi < 40 cm). An 1 l-m sediment core has a basal 14C age of 30960 k 860 B.P. Sediments between 11 m and 6 m are high in% dry weight, rich in clay components Al2O3, Fe,O,, K,O, MgO, and low in organic C (I 6.1%), carbonate-C (< 1.0 %), total N (< 3.2 mg g-'), and total S (I 1.7 mg g-'). Diatoms and pollen indicate open-water conditions between 9.0 m and 6.0 m (13420-l 1790 B.P.). Above 6.0 m, CaCO, and organic matter concentrations increase relative to elastics. The transition marks a change to shallow-water conditions as inferred from diatoms and pollen, and probably reflects a shift to drier climate. Uppermost (80-O cm) red clays were deposited rapidly, probably as a consequence of recent (decades to centuries) riparian disturbances (e.g. agriculture, lake-bottom reclamation, urban development). Dates assigned to events in the Qilu Hu profile are tentative because of potential hard-water-lake error.

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Ecosystems, paleoecology and human disturbance in subtropical and tropical america

Cited by 129 publications

References 44 publications

A reexamination of human-induced environmental change within the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico

A reexamination of human-induced environmental change within the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico

Quaternary landscape ecology: Relevant scales in space and time

Paleolimnology of Qilu Hu, Yunnan Province, China

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