Collaborative Research: Pre-Columbian Human Impacts on Amazonian ecosystems

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How natural are the forests of Amazonia? A growing case is being made among anthropologists and archaeologists that prior to European contact in 1492, native people manipulated much, perhaps most, of Amazonia. If fire was used across the Amazon basin to clear land for agriculture then forest ecosystems that ecologists have assumed were mature may in fact be only one to several generations removed from intensive management. Given that Amazonia is the largest rainforest and home to unparalleled biodiversity, understanding the extent to which wildlife and people have interacted in the past is vital for effective planning and management. A further aspect of this debate is that if much of Amazonia is truly the product of disturbance, the forest must be considered to be relatively young and is probably not at equilibrium with respect to carbon cycling. To test the hypothesis of widespread disturbance, this project will conduct the first systematic survey of Amazonian soils for charcoal. Fires in Amazonia are almost always human-induced, and each burn leaves ash and charcoal that become incorporated into soil. Over 300 soil pits will be sampled on transects across Amazonia, to determine the distribution and age of buried charcoal. Prior soil descriptions also will be used to determine where other scientists have located charcoal and compare data gathered in this project with a new model for pre-Columbian settlement of Amazonia. Through these analyses, the collaborating team from Florida Tech, Wake Forest, University of Florida, The National History Museum, and Guarulhos University, Brazil, will hope to inject real data into the policy arena of Amazonian development and conservation.