Persistent effects of pre-Columbian plant domestication on Amazonian forest composition

Levis, Carolina; Bongers, Frans; Clement, Charles R.; Neves, Eduardo G.; Tamanaha, Eduardo K.; Figueiredo, Fernando O.G.; Castilho, Carolina V.; Magnusson, William E.; Phillips, Oliver L.; Guevara, Juan Ernesto; Sabatier, Daniel; Monteagudo Mendoza, Abel; Pitman, Nigel C.A.; Duque, Alvaro; Zartman, Charles Eugene; Vasquez, Rodolfo; Andrade, Ana; Feldpausch, Ted R.; Laurance, Susan G.W.; Laurance, William F.; Killeen, Timothy J.; Montero, Juan Carlos; Mostacedo, Bonifacio; van der Heijden, Geertje; van der Heijden, Geertje; ter Steege, Hans

doi:10.1126/science.aal0157

Persistent effects of pre-Columbian plant domestication on Amazonian forest composition

Authors

Carolina Levis

Costa

Frans Bongers

Marielos

Charles R. Clement

Junqueira

Eduardo G. Neves

Eduardo K. Tamanaha

Fernando O.G. Figueiredo

Rafael P.

Carolina V. Castilho

William E. Magnusson

Oliver L. Phillips

Juan Ernesto Guevara

Daniel Sabatier

Molino

Dairon

Abel Monteagudo Mendoza

Nigel C.A. Pitman

Alvaro Duque

Percy

Charles Eugene Zartman

Rodolfo Vasquez

Ana Andrade

Camargo

Ted R. Feldpausch

Susan G.W. Laurance

William F. Laurance

Timothy J. Killeen

Henrique Eduardo

Juan Carlos Montero

Bonifacio Mostacedo

GEERTJE VAN DER HEIJDEN Geertje.VanDerheijden@nottingham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Hans ter Steege

Abstract

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 to be hyperdominant than non-domesticated species. Across the basin the relative abundance and richness of domesticated species increases 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.

Citation

Levis, C., Costa, F. R., Bongers, F., Peña-Claros, M., Clement, C. R., Junqueira, A. B., …ter Steege, H. (2017). Persistent effects of pre-Columbian plant domestication on Amazonian forest composition. Science, 355(6328), 925-931. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aal0157

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jan 25, 2017
Publication Date	Mar 3, 2017
Deposit Date	Mar 3, 2017
Publicly Available Date	Sep 4, 2017
Journal	Science
Print ISSN	0036-8075
Electronic ISSN	1095-9203
Publisher	American Association for the Advancement of Science
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	355
Issue	6328
Pages	925-931
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aal0157
Public URL	https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/848161
Publisher URL	http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6328/925
Additional Information	This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on 3rd of March, vol. 355, no. 6328, p. 925-931 DOI:10.1126/science.aal0157 94 authors in total