Collaborative Research: Determining the Ecological Legacy of Pre-Columbian Human Impacts on Amazonian Ecosystems

合作研究：确定前哥伦布时代人类对亚马逊生态系统影响的生态遗产

• 批准号: 0743666
• 负责人: Miles Silman
• 金额: $ 12.81万
• 依托单位: Wake Forest University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-04-01 至 2012-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0743666&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Determining; Ecological; Legacy

How natural are the forests of Amazonia? A growing case is being made among anthropologists and archaeologists that prior to European contact native people manipulated large areas, perhaps the majority, of Amazonia. Given that Amazonia is the largest rainforest and home to unparalleled biodiversity, understanding to what extent wildlife and people have interacted in the past is vital for effective planning and policy formulation. A further aspect of this debate is that if much of Amazonia is truly the product of disturbance just 400-500 years ago, the forest must be considered to be relatively young and probably not close to carbon-equilibrium. To test the idea 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.

亚马逊森林有多自然？人类学家和考古学家正在逐渐提出一个案件，在欧洲接触之前，本地人操纵了亚马逊人，也许是大多数地区。鉴于亚马逊是最大的雨林，也是无与伦比的生物多样性的所在地，因此了解野生动植物和人们过去互动的程度对于有效的计划和政策制定至关重要。这场辩论的另一个方面是，如果大部分亚马逊人确实是400 - 500年前的干扰产物，那么森林必须被认为是相对年轻的，并且可能不接近碳平衡。为了测试广泛干扰的想法，该项目将对木炭的亚马逊土壤进行首次系统调查。亚马逊的大火几乎总是被人类引起的，每种燃烧的灰烬和木炭都被掺入土壤中。超过300个土壤坑将在整个亚马逊省的样带上进行采样，以确定被埋葬的木炭的分布和年龄。先前的土壤描述还将用于确定其他科学家在何处找到木炭，并将该项目中收集的数据与哥伦比亚前哥伦比亚前定居点的新模型进行比较。通过这些分析，佛罗里达理工大学，韦克森林，佛罗里达大学，国家历史博物馆和巴西瓜拉尔霍斯大学的合作团队希望将真实数据注入亚马逊发展和保护的政策领域。