Pre-Columbian vegetational and fire history in western Amazonia: Terrestrial soil phytolith and charcoal evidence from three regions

Piperno, Dolores R.; McMichael, Crystal N.H.; Pitman, Nigel C.A.; Paredes, Marcos Ríos; Torres-Montenegro, Luis A.; Bush, Mark B.

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2024.01.011

Quaternary International

2024

DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2024.01.011

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Pre-Columbian vegetational and fire history in western Amazonia: Terrestrial soil phytolith and charcoal evidence from three regions

Dolores R. Piperno,

Crystal N.H. McMichael,

Nigel C.A. Pitman

et al.

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2024

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Cited by 3 publications

References 52 publications

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Vegetation response to Holocene hydroclimatic variability in the aseasonal forests of the north-western Amazon

Spater,

Montúfar,

Luzuriaga

et al. 2024

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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Vegetation response to Holocene hydroclimatic variability in the aseasonal forests of the north-western Amazon

Spater,

Montúfar,

Luzuriaga

et al. 2024

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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Under What Conditions do the Inflorescence Bract Phytoliths of Oat [ Avena sativa (L.)] Become Autofluorescent?

Vrydaghs,

Hodson,

Ham-Meert

et al. 2024

Environmental Archaeology

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Past Fire and Vegetation Change in the Hyperdiverse Forests of the Ecuadorian Amazon

Heijink,

Zwarts,

Witteveen

et al. 2024

Plants

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The Ecuadorian Amazon holds more biodiversity than most other places on Earth. Palms are a particularly dominant component of the vegetation; however, it remains unknown to what degree the pattern has persisted through time. Here, we investigate the persistence of palm dominance through time and the degree to which past human activities (e.g., fire, cultivation, and forest opening) have affected changes in palm abundances across five regions of the Ecuadorian Amazon. We analyzed soil cores (40–80 cm depth) from each region for charcoal (evidence of past fire) and phytoliths (evidence of past vegetation change). The timings of fires (based on 14C radiocarbon dates), the occurrence, recurrence, and number of fires (based on charcoal presence and abundance in samples), and the amount of change in palm abundances (based on phytoliths) varied within and between the studied regions. The charcoal and phytolith results indicate the presence of low levels of past human activity at all sites. Our results show that patterns of modern palm hyperdominance found in Amazonian forests have not been persistent through time, and that even low levels of past human activities can affect palm abundance.

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Pre-Columbian vegetational and fire history in western Amazonia: Terrestrial soil phytolith and charcoal evidence from three regions

Cited by 3 publications

References 52 publications

Vegetation response to Holocene hydroclimatic variability in the aseasonal forests of the north-western Amazon

Vegetation response to Holocene hydroclimatic variability in the aseasonal forests of the north-western Amazon

Under What Conditions do the Inflorescence Bract Phytoliths of Oat [ Avena sativa (L.)] Become Autofluorescent?

Past Fire and Vegetation Change in the Hyperdiverse Forests of the Ecuadorian Amazon

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