The DOI matches its Crossref record; 72 of the 73 references it cites were found in a registry or an index, and 1 are not checked yet; 8 of the 103 sources its claims cite were checked for support.
Predicting pre-Columbian anthropogenic soils in Amazonia
Open accessAbstract
The extent and intensity of pre-Columbian impacts on lowland Amazonia have remained uncertain and controversial. Various indicators can be used to gauge the impact of pre-Columbian societies, but the formation of nutrient-enriched terra preta soils has been widely accepted as an indication of long-term settlement and site fidelity. Using known and newly discovered terra preta sites and maximum entropy algorithms (Maxent), we determined the influence of regional environmental conditions on the likelihood that terra pretas would have been formed at any given location in lowland Amazonia.Terra pretas were most frequently found in central and eastern Amazonia along the lower courses of the major Amazonian rivers. Terrain, hydrologic and soil characteristics were more important predictors of terra preta distributions than climatic conditions. Our modelling efforts indicated that terra pretas are likely to be found throughout ca 154 063 km 2 or 3.2% of the forest. We also predict that terra preta formation was limited in most of western Amazonia. Model results suggested that the distribution of terra preta was highly predictable based on environmental parameters. We provided targets for future archaeological surveys under the vast forest canopy and also highlighted how few of the long-term forest inventory sites in Amazonia are able to capture the effects of historical disturbance.
Verified 2026-11-10 · 1 reference not checked yet
Overview
AI snapshot
Written from the paper’s full text.
TL;DR
Using Maxent and 701 known terra preta presence sites, the authors model the environmental likelihood of pre-Columbian anthropogenic soil formation across lowland Amazonia. They estimate terra preta is likely across ca 154,063 km² (3.2% of forest), concentrated in central/eastern Amazonia and riverine settings, with limited western Amazonian occurrence.
Key findings
- The model had high predictive capacity: mean AUC from 10-fold cross-validation was 0.957 ± 0.006; at a 0.25 probability threshold, 89% of known presence/absence sites were correctly classified, with a 6.5% false negative rate and 4.7% false positive rate.
- Terrain, geological and hydrological characteristics were more important than climatic ones. Elevation was the most important predictor (permutation importance 61.4945%), constraining terra preta mainly to 0–100 m elevation; geological province was second (5.6174%), with highest likelihood in the Solimões Basin, Ucayali Basin and Brazilian Shield; probability was highest within 10 km of a river and near bluffs greater than 25 m.
- Terra preta was predicted across ca 154,063 km², or 3.2% of the forest, less than previous estimates of as much as 10%. The model predicted terra preta was limited in most of western Amazonia and almost zero at major archaeological sites in Bolivia, including the Llanos de Moxos and the geoglyph-rich region.
Methods
- Presence-only Maxent v. 3.3.3 modelling used 701 terra preta presence sites: 201 high-confidence sites from WinklerPrins & Aldrich, 8 from Paz et al., and 463 from E.G.N. and E.K.T. field surveys, across 4,876,193 km² of Amazonian forest.
- The model included 22 environmental variables (9 climatic, 6 edaphic, 4 topographical, 2 hydrological, 1 geological) resampled to 90 m resolution.
- Analyses included 10-fold cross-validation, AUC statistics, response curves, permutation importance and jackknife tests; predicted values were then extracted for 2,879 terra preta and terra preta-free sites, and a 0.25 threshold maximizing correct classification was used to estimate the area predicted as terra preta.
Limitations
- The paper states that because most terra preta and terra preta-free sites lie in Brazil, the most confident predictions are for Brazil; elsewhere predictions are based on larger interpolations and are less certain, and increased sampling will refine estimates outside Brazil.
- The paper states the model probably overestimates the areas where terra pretas will be found at any given time because it predicts the summed distribution across all ages; terra preta dates are not always contemporaneous, ranging from 3000 to 500 years ago, with most recorded dates from 1000 to 2000 years ago, and continuous occupation after original formation remains unknown.
- The paper also notes that presence-only modelling was chosen partly because presence sampling was targeted and localized while terra preta-free datasets came from landscape-scale stratified sampling, and RADAM coordinates may be questionable because they predate modern GPS; RADAM and other regional surveys do not contain evidence of terra pretas, but it is not explicit whether they actually searched for them.
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Claims the paper makes
23 Not checked yet · 18 Own result · 17 No full text of the sources · 17 Own interpretation · 12 Own method · 10 No basis given · 2 Partly supported · 1 Supported so far · accuracy not yet measured
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Less is known of terra preta occurrence in the westernmost and interfluvial forests, though most soil surveys in these areas contain no evidence of terra pretas [10,33-38] (figure 1).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [10] 10. McMichael C, Piperno DR, Bush MB, Silman MR, Zimmerman AR, Raczka MF, Lobato LC. 2012 Sparse pre-Columbian human habitation in western Amazonia. Science 336 , 1429-1431. (doi:10.1126/ science.1219982) source
- Not checked yetcites [33] 33. Brazil MdMeE, Departamento Nacional de Produca ˜o Mineral (DNPM). 1973-1983 Projeto RADAMBRASIL: 1973-1983, Levantamento de Recursos Naturais. DNPM, Rio de Janeiro.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [34] 34. Cooper M, Mendes LMS, Silva WLC, Sparovek G. 2005 A national soil profile database for Brazil available to international scientists. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 69 , 649-652. (doi:10.2136/sssaj2004.0140) source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [35] 35. McMichael C, Bush MB, Piperno D, Silman MR, Zimmerman AR, Anderson C. 2012 Scales of preColumbian disturbance associated with western Amazonian lakes. Holocene 22 , 131-141. (doi:10.1177/0959683611414932) source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [36] 36. McMichael CH, Bush MB, Silman MR, Piperno DR, Raczka M, Lobato LC, Zimmerman M, Hagen S, Palace M. 2012 Historical fire and bamboo dynamics in western Amazonia. J. Biogeogr . 40 , 299-309. (doi:10.1111/jbi.12002) source
- Could not verifycites [37] 37. Quesada C, Lloyd J, Anderson L, Fyllas N, Schwarz M, Czimczik C. 2011 Soils of Amazonia with particular reference to the RAINFOR sites. Biogeosciences 8 , 1415-1440. (doi:10.5194/ bg-8-1415-2011) sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
Section 3.6, “Other soils” (page not provided), says the paper excludes man-made soils, including terra preta, from its review. The Introduction discusses soil surveys but does not say whether surveys of westernmost or interfluvial forests found terra preta. Searches for terra preta and its absence in those surveys found no passage addressing the claim. (LLM, conf=0.76)
- Could not verifycites [38] 38. Quesada C et al . 2009 Regional and large-scale patterns in Amazon forest structure and function are mediated by variations in soil physical and chemical properties. Biogeosci. Discuss. 6 , 3993-4057. (doi:10.5194/bgd-6-3993-2009) sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Study sites section describes Amazonian forest plots with soil data, but does not report whether those surveys found terra preta. Searches for “terra preta,” “westernmost,” and “interfluvial” found no passage in our copy addressing the claimed absence of evidence. (LLM, conf=0.73)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“The older and highly weathered cratonic soils of eastern Amazonia were particularly nutrientpoor [37,56], and terra preta formation increased fertility in soils and afforded repeatable harvests in nutrient-poor areas at higher population densities.”
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [37] 37. Quesada C, Lloyd J, Anderson L, Fyllas N, Schwarz M, Czimczik C. 2011 Soils of Amazonia with particular reference to the RAINFOR sites. Biogeosciences 8 , 1415-1440. (doi:10.5194/ bg-8-1415-2011) sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Introduction (page unavailable) describes low soil fertility in central Amazonia and links it to ancient, deeply weathered and leached material. It does not establish that the cratonic soils of eastern Amazonia were particularly nutrient-poor; it also notes that soils on the ancient Guyana and Brazilian shields can sometimes have unexpectedly high fertility. The terra preta clause is not attributed to this source by the citation placement. (LLM, conf=0.84)
- Partly supportedcites [56] 56. Hoorn C et al . 2010 Amazonia through time: Andean uplift, climate change, landscape evolution, and biodiversity. Science 330 , 927-931. (doi:10. 1126/science.1194585) sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The biodiversity section (p. 4) describes soils on the Eastern Amazonian craton as generally nutrient-poor, contrasting them with soils on younger Andean sediments. It also calls the craton old, but does not describe its soils as highly weathered. The terra preta clause is not attributed specifically to this source. (LLM, conf=0.83)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
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- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Partly supported
The sources with a verdict support this claim; the rest weren’t checked yet, have no full text we could read, or their verdicts aren’t rated yet.
In the paper
“These anthropogenic soil types were usually formed between 500 and 2500 years ago and contain significantly higher nutrient levels than typical Amazonian soils [4,20,23-28].”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [4] 4. Neves E, Petersen J. 2006 Political economy and pre-Columbian landscape transformation in central Amazonia. In Time and complexity in historical ecology: studies in the neotropical lowlands (eds W Balee, CL Erickson), pp. 279-310. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. source
- Not checked yetcites [20] 20. Roosevelt AC. 1991 Moundbuilders of the Amazon: geophysical archaeology on Marajo ´ Island . San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [23] 23. Neves E, Petersen J, Bartone R, Augusto Da Silva C. 2004 Historical and socio-cultural origins of Amazonian dark earth. In Amazonian dark earths: origins, properties, management (eds J Lehmann, DC Kern, B Glaser, WI Woods), pp. 29-50. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publisher. source
- Could not verifycites [24] 24. Roosevelt AC. 1993 The rise and fall of the Amazon chiefdoms . L'Homme 33 , 255-283. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The discussion of soil nutrients on p. 258 concerns how cultivation used them, not nutrient levels in terra preta. Searches for “terra preta” and anthropogenic dark-earth fertility found no passage comparing those soils with typical Amazonian soils. (LLM, conf=0.72)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [25] 25. Roosevelt AC et al . 1996 Paleoindian cave dwellers in the Amazon: the peopling of the Americas. Science 272 , 373-384. (doi:10.1126/science. 272.5260.373) source
- Supportedcites [26] 26. Sombroek W, Kern D, Rodrigues T, Cravo MS, Jarbas TC, Woods W, Glaser B (eds). 2002 Terra preta and terra mulata : pre-Columbian Amazon kitchen middens and agricultural fields, their sustainability and their replication. In Proc. 17th World Congress of Soil Science , Bangkok, Thailand .
The Characteristics and Classification Criteria section reports higher exchangeable bases, calcium, and magnesium in Terra Preta soils than in nearby forest soils. It also describes plant-available phosphorus as strikingly high in Terra Preta compared with normal forest soils. Page numbers are not provided in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.92)
- Could not verifycites [27] 27. Sombroek WG. 1966 Amazon soils: a reconnaissance of the soils of the Brazilian Amazon region . Wageningen, The Netherlands: Centre for Agricultural Publications and Documentation. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The available indexed passages contain bibliographic metadata, not the thesis text. Searches for terra preta nutrient levels and related fertility terms returned no passage addressing a comparison with typical Amazonian soils, so the claim cannot be checked against our copy. (LLM, conf=0.72)
- Not checked yetcites [28] 28. Woods WI, McCann JM. 1999 The anthropogenic origin and persistence of Amazonian dark earths. Yearb. Conf. Latin Am. Geogr. 25 , 7-14.
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“The type of river does not seem to be as important, as areas of high terra preta probability fall along black-water (including the Rio Negro), white-water (including the Amazon) and clear-water rivers (including the Tapajos) [26,55].”
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [26] 26. Sombroek W, Kern D, Rodrigues T, Cravo MS, Jarbas TC, Woods W, Glaser B (eds). 2002 Terra preta and terra mulata : pre-Columbian Amazon kitchen middens and agricultural fields, their sustainability and their replication. In Proc. 17th World Congress of Soil Science , Bangkok, Thailand .Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Application research section identifies terra preta sites near confluences involving the Rio Negro, Amazon and Tapajós, supporting occurrence across these river settings. It does not establish high terra preta probability along each river type. The Characteristics and classification criteria section says river-water type causes major differences and that terra preta patches along the upper and middle Rio Negro are rare and small. (LLM, conf=0.85)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [55] 55. Kern DC, Aquino GD, Rodrigues TE, Frazao FJL, Sombroek W, Myers TP, Neves EG. 2003 Distribution of Amazonian dark earths in the Brazilian Amazon. In Amazonian dark earths: origins, properties, management (eds J Lehmann, DC Kern, B Glaser, WI Woods), pp. 51-75. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. source
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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- Partly supported
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Terrain, geological and hydrological characteristics were more important in shaping terra preta distributions than were climatic ones (table 1 and figures 3-5).”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“The locations of terra preta -free sites from all of these surveys were combined to form a database of terra preta absences ( n ¼ 1962).”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“We combined these data points with 463 georeferenced terra preta sites uncovered by E.G.N. and E.K.T. in archaeological field surveys from 2008 to 2012 to obtain a total of 917 known terra preta locations (figure 1).”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Model results also indicated that the probability of finding terra preta is almost zero at the major archaeological sites in Bolivia, including the Llanos de Moxos and the geoglyph-rich region (figure 2).”
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The second most important predictor was geological province, and terra pretas are most likely to be found in the Solimo ˜es Basin, Ucayali Basin and Brazilian Shield regions (figure 3).”
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“In total, 1791 of these sites lie within Amazonia (figure 1).”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- It may state two separate claims as one. 25
- Probably not a substantial claim. 32
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Using the 0.25 threshold, 89% of all cases were predicted correctly, with a false negative rate of 6.5% and a false positive rate of 4.7%.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Our model suggested that terra preta s are also most probable within 10 km of a river, and near bluffs more than 25 m (figure 3).”
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“An absence of terra preta was also predicted across most of western Amazonia and in the upper catchment areas of southeastern Amazonia.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The probabilities ranged from 6.2 -10 2 9 to 0.96, with most of Amazonia at the low end of that range.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Terra preta formation was most probable in eastern and central Amazonia, and in association with the lower courses of major rivers (figures 2 and 6).”
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The average AUC value obtained from the 10-fold cross-validation of the model was 0.957, with a standard deviation of + 0.006, which was much higher than that of a random prediction (0.5), and indicated that the model fitted the data well and had a high predictive capacity.”
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“Whether similar impacts occur deep within the interior forests and across most of the basin remains unknown [9,10].”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [9] 9. Barlow J, Gardner TA, Lees AC, Parry L, Peres CA. 2012 How pristine are tropical forests? An ecological perspective on the pre-Columbian human footprint in Amazonia and implications for contemporary conservation. Biol. Conserv. 151 , 45-49. (doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2011.10.013) source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [10] 10. McMichael C, Piperno DR, Bush MB, Silman MR, Zimmerman AR, Raczka MF, Lobato LC. 2012 Sparse pre-Columbian human habitation in western Amazonia. Science 336 , 1429-1431. (doi:10.1126/ science.1219982) source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“We evaluated area under the curve (AUC) statistics, which indicated the predictive capacity of a model, and how much better (or worse) a given model performed compared with a random model, where AUC ¼ 0.5.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“We validated our model with additional terra preta presence and absence locations, and compared the output of our model with locations of previous ecological and archaeological research in Amazonia.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
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In the paper
“Terra pretas indicate sedentary pre-Columbian settlements and are the most widely reported archaeological feature in Amazonia.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“To account for autocorrelation between variables, we reduced the 19 variables down to nine using cross-correlation matrices [41] (see the electronic supplementary material, figure S1 and table S1).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [41] 41. Buermann W, Saatchi S, Smith TB, Zutta BR, Chaves JA, Mila ´ B, Graham CH. 2008 Predicting species distributions across the Amazonian and Andean - regions using remote sensing data. J. Biogeogr. 35 , 1160-1176. (doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007. 01858.x) source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“We modelled terra pretas based solely on the presence data for several reasons. First, the sampling strategies of the presence-only dataset were targeted and localized, whereas the terra preta -free datasets were based on landscape-scale stratified sampling designs.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Also, RADAM and other regional Brazilian soil surveys do not contain evidence of terra pretas , although it is not explicit as to whether they actually searched for them.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This distribution may indicate a settlement preference for larger rivers, but may also be related to flood conditions, which are longer but not as deep in the lower courses.”
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The older and highly weathered cratonic soils of eastern Amazonia were particularly nutrientpoor [37,56], and terra preta formation increased fertility in soils and afforded repeatable harvests in nutrient-poor areas at higher population densities.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: unclear — It is unclear why the paper says it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Roughness and slope were highly correlated with each other, so only roughness metrics were used in the model (see the electronic supplementary material, figure S1 and table S1).”
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“A newly emerging view is that pre-Columbian impacts across Amazonia were heterogeneous, both in space and degree [9,10].”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [9] 9. Barlow J, Gardner TA, Lees AC, Parry L, Peres CA. 2012 How pristine are tropical forests? An ecological perspective on the pre-Columbian human footprint in Amazonia and implications for contemporary conservation. Biol. Conserv. 151 , 45-49. (doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2011.10.013) source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [10] 10. McMichael C, Piperno DR, Bush MB, Silman MR, Zimmerman AR, Raczka MF, Lobato LC. 2012 Sparse pre-Columbian human habitation in western Amazonia. Science 336 , 1429-1431. (doi:10.1126/ science.1219982) source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“However, the overall extent to which lowland Amazonia was actively transformed into a modified landscape or cultural parkland by native people remains unknown and debated [6-10].”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [6] 6. Erickson CL. 2008 Amazonia: the historical ecology of a domesticated landscape. In The handbook of South American archaeology (eds H Silverman, WH Isbell), pp. 157-183. New York, NY: Springer. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [7] 7. Mann CC. 2002 The real dirt on rainforest fertility. Science 297 , 920-923. (doi:10.1126/science.297. 5583.920) source
- Not checked yetcites [8] 8. Romero S. 2012 Once hidden by forest, carvings in land attest to Amazon's lost world. New York Times . January 15; Sect. A6.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [9] 9. Barlow J, Gardner TA, Lees AC, Parry L, Peres CA. 2012 How pristine are tropical forests? An ecological perspective on the pre-Columbian human footprint in Amazonia and implications for contemporary conservation. Biol. Conserv. 151 , 45-49. (doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2011.10.013) source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [10] 10. McMichael C, Piperno DR, Bush MB, Silman MR, Zimmerman AR, Raczka MF, Lobato LC. 2012 Sparse pre-Columbian human habitation in western Amazonia. Science 336 , 1429-1431. (doi:10.1126/ science.1219982) source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Terra pretas occur throughout Amazonia, but are most commonly found in the central and eastern forests [26,31], and in riverine settings, particularly along bluffs overlooking the rivers [32].”
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [26] 26. Sombroek W, Kern D, Rodrigues T, Cravo MS, Jarbas TC, Woods W, Glaser B (eds). 2002 Terra preta and terra mulata : pre-Columbian Amazon kitchen middens and agricultural fields, their sustainability and their replication. In Proc. 17th World Congress of Soil Science , Bangkok, Thailand .
Checked before — its earlier verdict is held back until a new check runs.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [31] 31. Glaser B, Birk JJ. 2012 State of the scientific knowledge on properties and genesis of Anthropogenic dark earths in central Amazonia (terra preta de I ´ ndio). Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 82 , 39-51. (doi:10.1016/j.gca.2010.11.029) source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not checked yet
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“We performed 10-fold cross-validation of the model, which was advantageous because all the data points were used for model training and also for performance testing.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“These anthropogenic soil types were usually formed between 500 and 2500 years ago and contain significantly higher nutrient levels than typical Amazonian soils [4,20,23-28].”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [4] 4. Neves E, Petersen J. 2006 Political economy and pre-Columbian landscape transformation in central Amazonia. In Time and complexity in historical ecology: studies in the neotropical lowlands (eds W Balee, CL Erickson), pp. 279-310. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. source
- Not checked yetcites [20] 20. Roosevelt AC. 1991 Moundbuilders of the Amazon: geophysical archaeology on Marajo ´ Island . San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [23] 23. Neves E, Petersen J, Bartone R, Augusto Da Silva C. 2004 Historical and socio-cultural origins of Amazonian dark earth. In Amazonian dark earths: origins, properties, management (eds J Lehmann, DC Kern, B Glaser, WI Woods), pp. 29-50. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publisher. source
- Not checked yetcites [24] 24. Roosevelt AC. 1993 The rise and fall of the Amazon chiefdoms . L'Homme 33 , 255-283. source
Checked before — its earlier verdict is held back until a new check runs.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [25] 25. Roosevelt AC et al . 1996 Paleoindian cave dwellers in the Amazon: the peopling of the Americas. Science 272 , 373-384. (doi:10.1126/science. 272.5260.373) source
- Not checked yetcites [26] 26. Sombroek W, Kern D, Rodrigues T, Cravo MS, Jarbas TC, Woods W, Glaser B (eds). 2002 Terra preta and terra mulata : pre-Columbian Amazon kitchen middens and agricultural fields, their sustainability and their replication. In Proc. 17th World Congress of Soil Science , Bangkok, Thailand .
Checked before — its earlier verdict is held back until a new check runs.
- Not checked yetcites [27] 27. Sombroek WG. 1966 Amazon soils: a reconnaissance of the soils of the Brazilian Amazon region . Wageningen, The Netherlands: Centre for Agricultural Publications and Documentation. source
Checked before — its earlier verdict is held back until a new check runs.
- Not checked yetcites [28] 28. Woods WI, McCann JM. 1999 The anthropogenic origin and persistence of Amazonian dark earths. Yearb. Conf. Latin Am. Geogr. 25 , 7-14.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“Furthermore, the eastern sections of the Amazon River are less turbid and have slower flow and meander rates compared with the western sections [60].”
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [60] 60. Mertes LAK, Dunne T, Martinelli LA. 1996 Channelfloodplain geomorphology along the SolimoesAmazon River, Brazil. GSA Bull. 108 , 1089-1107. (doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1996)108 , 1089: CFGATS . 2.3.CO;2)
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Terra pretas occur throughout Amazonia, but are most commonly found in the central and eastern forests [26,31], and in riverine settings, particularly along bluffs overlooking the rivers [32].”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [32] 32. Denevan WM. 1996 A bluff model of riverine settlement in prehistoric Amazonia. Ann. Assoc. Am. Geogr. 86 , 654-681. (doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306. 1996.tb01771.x) source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This method allowed us to estimate false positive and false negative rates of the model.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However, the noted patterns may result from increased sampling effort in these locations.”
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Cooper et al . [34] published a comprehensive database of soil surveys conducted in Brazil, with most data points originating from the field campaign of the RADAMBrasil Project (Radar in Amazonia) [33].”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [34] 34. Cooper M, Mendes LMS, Silva WLC, Sparovek G. 2005 A national soil profile database for Brazil available to international scientists. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 69 , 649-652. (doi:10.2136/sssaj2004.0140) source
- Not checked yetcites [33] 33. Brazil MdMeE, Departamento Nacional de Produca ˜o Mineral (DNPM). 1973-1983 Projeto RADAMBRASIL: 1973-1983, Levantamento de Recursos Naturais. DNPM, Rio de Janeiro.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“A probability threshold value for predicting terra preta presence and absence was generated based on maximizing the percentage of sites correctly classified [51].”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [51] 51. Freeman EA, Moisen G. 2008 PRESENCEABSENCE: an R package for presence absence analysis. Statist. Softw. 23 , 1-31. source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“Terra preta formation has been estimated to occur in as much as 10% of the forests [6,7], but a prediction derived from empirical data and modelling is lacking.”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [6] 6. Erickson CL. 2008 Amazonia: the historical ecology of a domesticated landscape. In The handbook of South American archaeology (eds H Silverman, WH Isbell), pp. 157-183. New York, NY: Springer. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [7] 7. Mann CC. 2002 The real dirt on rainforest fertility. Science 297 , 920-923. (doi:10.1126/science.297. 5583.920) source
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“This stability may have also favoured larger and more permanent settlements in eastern Amazonia, particularly in regions such as Santarem, where some of the oldest records of human occupation in Amazonia have been identified [21,25].”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [21] 21. Roosevelt AC, Housley RA, Imazio da Siveira M, Maranca S, Johnson R. 1991 Eighth millenium pottery from a prehistoric shell midden in the Brazilian Amazon. Science 254 , 1621-1624. (doi:10.1126/science.254.5038.1621) source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [25] 25. Roosevelt AC et al . 1996 Paleoindian cave dwellers in the Amazon: the peopling of the Americas. Science 272 , 373-384. (doi:10.1126/science. 272.5260.373) source
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Our model provides a basis for linking historical trajectories of forest change with forest inventory data and ecological surveys conducted in Amazonia over modern timescales.”
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Dates from terra pretas are not always contemporaneous, and range from 3000 to 500 years ago.”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [22] 22. Neves EG, Petersen JB, Bartone RN, Heckenberger MJ. 2004 The timing of terra preta formation in the Central Amazon: archaeological data from three sites. In Amazonian dark earths: explorations in space and time (eds B Glaser, WI Woods), pp. 125-134. Berlin, Germany: Springer. source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Interestingly, the geoglyph-rich region at least partially overlaps with expansive bamboo-dominated forests in Amazonia (figure 2) [62] that have persisted in the landscape for thousands of years [36].”
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [62] 62. de Carvalho AL, Nelson BW, Bianchini MC, Plagnol D, Kuplich TM, Daly DC. 2013 Bamboo-dominated forests of the southwest Amazon: detection, spatial extent, life cycle length and flowering waves. PLoS ONE 8 , e54852. (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054852) source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [36] 36. McMichael CH, Bush MB, Silman MR, Piperno DR, Raczka M, Lobato LC, Zimmerman M, Hagen S, Palace M. 2012 Historical fire and bamboo dynamics in western Amazonia. J. Biogeogr . 40 , 299-309. (doi:10.1111/jbi.12002) source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“although multiple lines of palaeoecological evidence suggest heterogeneous and localized low-impact human activity in much of western Amazonia [10].”
- Also stated in: § (a) Spatio-temporal heterogeneity of pre-Columbian peoples · hedged
“That is not to say people were absent from western Amazonia; most evidence indicates that with the exception of the earthwork-rich areas in southwestern Amazonia, people were sparsely scattered through the landscape, clearing small tracts of land and growing crops on localized scales.”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [10] 10. McMichael C, Piperno DR, Bush MB, Silman MR, Zimmerman AR, Raczka MF, Lobato LC. 2012 Sparse pre-Columbian human habitation in western Amazonia. Science 336 , 1429-1431. (doi:10.1126/ science.1219982) source
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
- Also stated in: § (a) Spatio-temporal heterogeneity of pre-Columbian peoples · hedged
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“Previous field reports have documented that terra pretas are often associated with lower canopy height [28], denser understory [28], increased frequencies of lianas [67] and are often identified by locals as secondary forests with a predictable suite of species, many of which are domesticated (e.g. [68,69]).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [68] 68. Clement C, McCann J, Smith N. 2004 Agrobiodiversity in Amazonia and its relationship with dark earths. In Amazonian dark earths (eds B Glaser, WI Woods), pp. 159-178. Berlin, Germany: Springer. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [69] 69. Junqueira AB, Shepard GH, Clement CR. 2011 Secondary forests on anthropogenic soils of the middle Madeira river: valuation, local knowledge, and landscape domestication in Brazilian Amazonia. Econ. Bot. 65 , 1-15. (doi:10.1007/s12231-0109138-8) source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“although at least some aspects of these accounts are of dubious reliability, i.e. the description of a nation of warrior women-the Amazons [61].”
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [61] 61. Medina J. 1934 The discovery of the Amazon according to the account of Friar Caspar de Carvajal and other documents . New York, NY: American Geographical Society.
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Other 'anthropogenic' forests that were formed in pre-Columbian periods may be identifiable within the forest today, as some species, including some palms, were heavily promoted species [6,70-72].”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [6] 6. Erickson CL. 2008 Amazonia: the historical ecology of a domesticated landscape. In The handbook of South American archaeology (eds H Silverman, WH Isbell), pp. 157-183. New York, NY: Springer. source
- Not checked yetcites [70] 70. Balee W. 1989 The culture of Amazonian forests. In Resource management in Amazonia: indigenous and folk strategies (eds DA Posey, W Balee), pp. 1-21. New York, NY: New York Botanical Garden.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [71] 71. Balee W. 2010 Contingent diversity on anthropic landscapes. Diversity 2 , 163-181. (doi:10.3390/ d2020163) source
- Not checked yetcites [72] 72. Levis C, de Souza PF, Schietti J, Emilio T, da Veiga Pinto JLP, Clement CR, Costa FRC, Hart JP. 2012 Historical human footprint on modern tree species composition in the Purus-Madeira Interfluve, central Amazonia. PLoS ONE 7 , e48559. (doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0048559) source
Checked before — its earlier verdict is held back until a new check runs.
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Some sites, particularly the smaller ones, may have been used only briefly.”
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Previous field reports have documented that terra pretas are often associated with lower canopy height [28], denser understory [28], increased frequencies of lianas [67] and are often identified by locals as secondary forests with a predictable suite of species, many of which are domesticated (e.g. [68,69]).”
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [28] 28. Woods WI, McCann JM. 1999 The anthropogenic origin and persistence of Amazonian dark earths. Yearb. Conf. Latin Am. Geogr. 25 , 7-14.
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“Also, Carvajal's account describes the western river sections as desolate, with the expedition starving to the point of eating shoe leather [61].”
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [61] 61. Medina J. 1934 The discovery of the Amazon according to the account of Friar Caspar de Carvajal and other documents . New York, NY: American Geographical Society.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The lack of terra pretas in western Amazonia may be because the Andean-derived soils of western Amazonia did not require nutrient enrichment, or because the human footprint in western Amazonia is for the most part smaller than that in the east.”
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Thus, the geoglyph builders may have been more culturally similar to people of the Beni.”
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“Previous field reports have documented that terra pretas are often associated with lower canopy height [28], denser understory [28], increased frequencies of lianas [67] and are often identified by locals as secondary forests with a predictable suite of species, many of which are domesticated (e.g. [68,69]).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [67] 67. Balee W, Campbell DG. 1990 Evidence for the successional status of liana forest (Xingu river basin, Amazonian Brazil). Biotropica 22 , 36-47. (doi:10. 2307/2388717) source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Although these data have been immensely valuable in deciphering many of the underlying mechanisms that shape forest composition, structure and change, they lack a historical perspective.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim.
In the paper
“Many tree species in Amazonia live several hundred years [66]”
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [66] 66. Hartshorn G, Zimmerman M. 1978 Tree falls and tropical forest dynamics. In Tropical trees as living systems (eds PB Tomlinson, MH Zimmerman), pp. 617-638. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“It has been suggested that the historical contingency, or historical trajectory, can play just as large a role in shaping observed ecological phenomena as modern climatic and abiotic conditions [64,65].”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [64] 64. Ricklefs RE, Latham RE, Qian H. 1999 Global patterns of tree species richness in moist forests: distinguishing ecological influences and historical contingency. OIKOS 86 , 369-373. (doi:10.2307/ 3546454) source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [65] 65. Ricklefs RE, Schluter D. 1993 Species diversity in ecological communities: historical and geographical perspectives . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Our model predicts where ancient impacts should be the most intense, even under the forest canopy, and provides basin-wide target locations for archaeologists who study the rich culture of ancient societies within the vast Amazonian rainforests (figure 6).”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Previous field reports have documented that terra pretas are often associated with lower canopy height [28], denser understory [28], increased frequencies of lianas [67] and are often identified by locals as secondary forests with a predictable suite of species, many of which are domesticated (e.g. [68,69]).”
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [28] 28. Woods WI, McCann JM. 1999 The anthropogenic origin and persistence of Amazonian dark earths. Yearb. Conf. Latin Am. Geogr. 25 , 7-14.
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Elsewhere in Amazonia, the predictions are based on larger interpolations and are less certain.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Many archaeological sites are discovered accidentally through deforestation [3,15] or as a result of conversations with local people.”
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [3] 3. Pa ¨rssinen M, Schaan D, Ranzi A. 2009 PreColumbian geometric earthworks in the upper Puru ´s: a complex society in western Amazonia. Antiquity 83 , 1084-1095.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [15] 15. Ranzi A, Feres R, Brown F. 2007 Internet software programs aid in search for Amazonian geoglyphs. EOS Trans. 88 , 226-229. (doi:10.1029/ 2007EO210003) source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Most of the previous forest inventory research occurred in areas that most probably do not contain terra pretas , but the long-term study sites near Manaus and Santarem are particularly promising for local-scale evaluations of pre-Columbian disturbance on forest structure (sites C and S in figure 6).”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
The paper relies on this without support.
The potential for terra preta formation exists throughout Amazonia.
“As the potential for terra preta formation exists throughout Amazonia, we hypothesized that regional environmental conditions and local sociocultural practices influenced how people lived and that, in turn, affected their likelihood of creating terra preta .”
The paper relies on this without support.
Modern environmental conditions used as predictors are relevant to the likelihood of pre-Columbian terra preta formation across Amazonia.
“we modelled the potential distribution of terra pretas based on presence locations and a suite of climatic, geological, terrain and hydrological conditions across Amazonia.”
The paper relies on this without support.
A prediction of terra preta formation derived from empirical data and modelling is lacking.
“Terra preta formation has been estimated to occur in as much as 10% of the forests [6,7], but a prediction derived from empirical data and modelling is lacking.”
The paper relies on this without support.
None of the predicted highly impacted areas are as biodiverse as the forests of northwestern Amazonia, which contain the highest tree-species diversity per unit area.
“None of the predicted highly impacted areas are as biodiverse as the forests of northwestern Amazonia, which contain the highest tree-species diversity per unit area.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Most ecological data collection and field surveys, particularly in the Neotropics, have been conducted over recent timescales, i.e. the past 50 years.
“Most ecological data collection and field surveys, particularly in the Neotropics, have been conducted over recent timescales, i.e. the past 50 years.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The Llanos de Moxos region of Bolivia is located in seasonally inundated forests at the forest-savannah transition.
“The Llanos de Moxos regions of Bolivia is located in seasonally inundated forests at the forest-savannah transition, and instead of terra preta formation, large societies sustained themselves by using techniques such as fish weirs and raised-field agriculture (e.g. [12]).”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“The idea of rivers as corridors for easy transportation and communication has been suggested in Amazonia [72] and shown to be significant in predicting anthropogenic soils [43].”
From Potential distributions of pre-columbian people in tropical andean landscapes (2022) · cites this paper as [43]
In the citing paper
“and the approach has also been used to predict the distributions of past people across landscapes [16,43,44].”
From Potential distributions of pre-columbian people in tropical andean landscapes (2022) · cites this paper as [43]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
“the 'high confidence' sites from the WinklerPrins and Aldrich [39] database ( n ¼ 201), sites surveyed by Paz et al . [50] ( n ¼ 8), and the sites surveyed by E.G.N. and E.K.T. ( n ¼ 463; total n ¼ 701)”
Reported 701 · recomputed 672
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
“We compiled 45 environmental layers for possible inclusion in the model, including bioclimatic ( n ¼ 19), soil ( n ¼ 16), terrain ( n ¼ 8), hydrological ( n ¼ 2) and geological ( n ¼ 1) characteristics”
Reported 45 · recomputed 46
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Self-citationAnthropogenic dark earth: Evolution, distribution, physical, and chemical properties
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Domestication of Amazonian landscapes
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Response to comment by McMichael, Piperno and Bush
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Clusterflock: a flocking algorithm for isolating congruent phylogenomic datasets
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Comment on Clementet al. 2015 ‘The domestication of Amazonia before European conquest’
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Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- McMichael, C. H., Palace, M. W., Bush, M. B., Braswell, B., Hagen, S., Neves, E. G., Silman, M. R., Tamanaha, E. K., & Czarnecki, C.
- Affiliations
- Earth Systems Research Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
- Applied Geosolutions, Durham, NH 03824, USA
- Laboratório de Arqueologia dos Trópicos, Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
- Department of Biology and Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27106, USA
- Florida Institute of Technology (US)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2014-02-22
- Volume
- 281
- Issue
- 1777
- Pages
- 20132475
- ISSN
- 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
- 0962-8452
- 1471-2954
- PMC
- PMC3896013
- OpenAlex
- W2111058040
- Cited by
- 179
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 3
- FWCI
- 353.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of New Hampshire Scholars Repository (University of New Hampshire at Manchester) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil and Environmental Studies
- Social Sciences › Archeology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Keywords
- terra preta, pre-Columbian societies, anthropogenic soils, Amazon basin, maximum entropy, environmental predictors, site fidelity, Amazonian rivers
- MeSH terms
- Algorithms, Archaeology, Environment, Soil, South America
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-11-10, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-11-10 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
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