Modern tree species composition reflects ancient Maya "forest gardens" in northwest Belize.
Modern tree species composition reflects ancient Maya "forest gardens" in northwest Belize.
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现代树种组成反映了伯利兹西北部的古代玛雅“森林花园”。
DOI：
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发表时间：
2011
影响因子：
5
通讯作者：
Nanci J. Ross
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Nanci J. Ross
生态学和民族植物学被整合在一起，以评估古代玛雅树木占主导地位的家庭花园的影响（即，“森林花园”），其中包含用于日常家庭需要的树种多样性，对中美洲森林的现代树种组成。研究人员认为，这些古老的花园在整个中美洲的普遍存在导致了对玛雅人有用的物种在当代森林中的主导地位，但这种模式可能取决于古代土地使用。经过检验的假设是，物种组成将是显着不同的地区之间的密集的古代住宅结构（高密度）和地区很少或没有古代定居点（低密度）。六十三个400平方米的地块（31高密度和32低密度）普查周围的皮拉尔考古保护区在西北部伯利兹。物种组成有很大不同，尽管被遗弃了几个世纪，但在高密度森林地区仍然存在着大量的常用“森林花园”物种。随后的土壤分析只解释了5%的物种组成差异。这项研究提供了玛雅森林花园的长期影响的数据，用于开发未来的保护模式。为了使中美洲的保护计划发挥作用，我们必须了解与人类密切相关的生态系统中复杂的生态和社会相互作用。
Ecology and ethnobotany were integrated to assess the impact of ancient Maya tree-dominated home gardens (i.e., "forest gardens"), which contained a diversity of tree species used for daily household needs, on the modern tree species composition of a Mesoamerican forest. Researchers have argued that the ubiquity of these ancient gardens throughout Mesoamerica led to the dominance of species useful to Maya in the contemporary forest, but this pattern may be localized depending on ancient land use. The tested hypothesis was that species composition would be significantly different between areas of dense ancient residential structures (high density) and areas of little or no ancient settlement (low density). Sixty-three 400-m2 plots (31 high density and 32 low density) were censused around the El Pilar Archaeological Reserve in northwestern Belize. Species composition was significantly different, with higher abundances of commonly utilized "forest garden" species still persisting in high-density forest areas despite centuries of abandonment. Subsequent edaphic analyses only explained 5% of the species composition differences. This research provides data on the long-term impacts of Maya forests gardens for use in development of future conservation models. For Mesoamerican conservation programs to work, we must understand the complex ecological and social interactions within an ecosystem that developed in intimate association with humans.