Dissertation Research: Brazil Nut Regeneration and Seedling Autecology

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Global attention has focused on the recently created extractive reserves in the Brazilian Amazon as a promising new land use strategy that encourages the simultaneous use and conservation of the rainforest. Although the extractive community has utilized and managed the forest for decades, this new mandate coupled with increasing population densities demands a higher level of management sophistication. The scientific community can play an important role in the testing of various production strategies open to these rainforest producers; however, research has been very limited. The proposed research will assist extractivists in Acre, Brazil in evaluating technological options designed to increase sustainable production of the native species, Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa Humb. & Bompl.), valued for its many traditional uses and great economic value. Study objectives are to examine: (1) Brazil nut seed germination success comparing the effects of date of fruit fall, seed size, and seed pretreatment. These data will provide practical information for seed collection and storage as well as specific scientific data on the causes of the observed slow and uneven germination. (2) Brazil nut seedling establishment success in three areas within the reserves: (a) Forest gaps, (b) Shifting cultivation plots, and (c) Pastures, employing two inexpensive planting techniques and post-planting regimes. These experiments will determine how Brazil nut responds physiologically to varied planting environments, and what factors limit seedling establishment and early growth. (3) Role of Brazil nut in the extractivist production system, comparing traditional uses and management of the species with changes to the system created by the introduced Brazil nut enrichment technologies. %%% Documentation of traditional management and uses will assist in understanding indigenous techniques that have maintained the species over generations and may yield valuable information for development of potential market products. Understanding changes generated by the new establishment technologies will facilitate critical evaluation on a socio-economic and biological level.