Persistent effects of pre-Columbian plant domestication on Amazonian forest composition.
Carolina LevisFlavia R C CostaF BongersM Peña-ClarosCharles Roland ClementAndré Braga JunqueiraEduardo G NevesEduardo K TamanahaFernando O G FigueiredoRafael P SalomãoCarolina Volkmer de CastilhoWilliam E MagnussonOliver L PhillipsJ E GuevaraDaniel SabatierJean-François MolinoD Cárdenas LópezA M MendozaNigel C A PitmanAlvaro DuqueP Núñez VargasCharles E ZartmanRodolfo Vasquez MartinezA AndradeJosé Luís Campana CamargoTed R FeldpauschSusan G W LauranceW F LauranceTimothy J KilleenH E Mendonça NascimentoJ C MonteroB MostacedoI L AmaralIma Célia Guimarães VieiraR BrienenH CastellanosJ TerborghMarcelo de Jesus Veiga CarimJosé Renan da Silva GuimarãesLuiz de Souza CoelhoF D de Almeida MatosF WittmannH F MogollónG DamascoN DávilaR García-VillacortaEuridice N Honorio CoronadoThaise EmilioD de Andrade Lima FilhoJuliana SchiettiP SouzaN TarghettaJ A ComiskeyB S MarimonB-H MarimonDavid A NeillAlfonso AlonsoL ArroyoFernanda Antunes CarvalhoFernanda Coelho de SouzaF DallmeierMarcelo Petratti PansonatoJoost F DuivenvoordenP V A FineP R StevensonA Araujo-MurakamiG A Aymard CC BaralotoDario Dantas AmaralJulien EngelT W HenkelP MaasP PetronelliJ D Cardenas RevillaJuliana StroppD DalyRogerio GribelM Ríos ParedesMarcos SilveiraR Thomas-CaesarT R BakerN F da SilvaLeandro Valle FerreiraCarlos Augusto PeresM R SilmanC CerónF C ValverdeA Di FioreEliana M JimenezM C Peñuela MoraM ToledoE M BarbosaL C de Matos BonatesNicolás Castaño ArboledaEmanuelle de Sousa FariasAlfredo F FuentesJ-L GuillaumetPeter Møller JørgensenY MalhiI P de Andrade MirandaJ F PhillipsA PrietoA RudasA R RuschelNatalino SilvaPatricio von HildebrandVincent Antoine VosE L ZentS ZentBruno Barçante Ladvocat CintraM T NascimentoAlexandre A de OliveiraH Ramirez-AnguloJ F RamosG RivasJ SchöngartR SierraM TiradoG van der HeijdenE V TorreOphelia WangK R YoungClaudia BaiderÁngela CanoWilliam Farfan-RiosC FerreiraBruce HoffmanC MendozaI MesonesA Torres-LezamaM N U MedinaTinde R van AndelDaniel VillarroelR ZagtM N AlexiadesH BalslevK Garcia-CabreraGeorge Pepe Gallardo GonzalesL HernandezIsau Huamantupa-ChuquimacoÂngelo Gilberto ManzattoW MillikenW P CuencaS PansiniDaniela PaulettoF R ArevaloNeidiane Farias Costa ReisA F SampaioL E Urrego GiraldoE H Valderrama SandovalL Valenzuela GamarraC I A VelaHans Ter SteegePublished in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2017)
The extent to which pre-Columbian societies altered Amazonian landscapes is hotly debated. We performed a basin-wide analysis of pre-Columbian impacts on Amazonian forests by overlaying known archaeological sites in Amazonia with the distributions and abundances of 85 woody species domesticated by pre-Columbian peoples. Domesticated species are five times more likely than nondomesticated species to be hyperdominant. Across the basin, the relative abundance and richness of domesticated species increase in forests on and around archaeological sites. In southwestern and eastern Amazonia, distance to archaeological sites strongly influences the relative abundance and richness of domesticated species. Our analyses indicate that modern tree communities in Amazonia are structured to an important extent by a long history of plant domestication by Amazonian peoples.