Amazonian exploitation revisited: ecological asymmetry and the policy pendulum
Abstract
The influence of pre-Columbian human populations on Amazonian ecosystems is being actively debated. The longstanding view that Amazonia was only minimally impacted by human actions has been challenged, and a new paradigm of Amazonia as a “manufactured landscape” is emerging. If such disturbance was the norm until just 500 years ago, Amazonian ecosystems could be far more ecologically resilient to disturbance than previously supposed. Alternatively, if the “manufactured landscape” label is an overstatement, then policy that assumes such resilience may cause substantial and long-lasting ecological damage. We present paleoecological data suggesting a middle path, in which some areas were heavily modified, but most of Amazonia was minimally impacted. Bluffs adjacent to main river channels and highly seasonal areas appear to have been the most extensively settled locations. Away from areas where humans lived, their influence on ecosystems was very local. Consequently, we see no evidence suggesting that large areas at a distance from rivers or in the less seasonal parts of Amazonia were substantially altered by human activity. Extrapolating from sites of known human occupation to infer Amazon-wide landscape disturbance may therefore potentially lead to unrealistic projections of human impact and misguided policy.
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The paleohistory of anthropogenic change across much of the Americas is especially unclear and controversial and may be exceptional compared with other continents.
“The paleohistory of anthropogenic change across much of the Americas is especially unclear and controversial (e.g., refs. 74, 82, and 125) and may be exceptional compared with other continents.”
From Used planet: a global history (2013) · cites this paper as [125]
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Palace, M., McMichael, C. N. H., BRASWELL, B. H., Hagen, S. C., Bush, M. B., Neves, E. G., Tamanaha, E. K., Herrick, C., & Frolking, S. (2017) · Ecosphere · doi:10.1002/ecs2.2035 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
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Amazonian Dark Earths: pathways to sustainable development in tropical rainforests?
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Biogeography of the Llanos de Moxos: natural and anthropogenic determinants
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Humans as the third evolutionary stage of biosphere engineering of rivers
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Lombardo, U., May, J., & Veit, H. (2012) · The Holocene · doi:10.1177/0959683612437872 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Widespread reforestation before European influence on Amazonia
Bush, M. B., Nascimento, M. N., Åkesson, C. M., Cárdenes-Sandí, G., Maezumi, S. Y., Behling, H., Correa‐Metrio, A., Church, W. B., Huisman, S. N., Kelly, T., et al. (2021) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.abf3870 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
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Morin‐Rivat, J., Biwôlé, A. B., Gorel, A., Vleminckx, J., Gillet, J., Bourland, N., Hardy, O. J., Smith, A. L., Daïnou, K., Dedry, L., et al. (2016) · The Holocene · doi:10.1177/0959683616646184 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Pre-Columbian fire regimes in lowland tropical rainforests of southeastern Peru
McMichael, C. N. H., Correa‐Metrio, A., & Bush, M. B. (2012) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.05.004 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Self-citationPalaeofires in Amazon: Interplay between land use change and palaeoclimatic events
Cordeiro, R. C., Turcq, B. J., Moreira, L. S., Rodrigues, R. D. A. R., Lamego, F., Martins, G. S., Bosco‐Santos, A., Barbosa, M. R., da Conceição, M. C. G., Rodrigues, R. D. C., et al. (2014) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.07.020 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Watling, J. G., Mayle, F. E., & Schaan, D. P. (2018) · Journal of Anthropological Archaeology · doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2018.05.001 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
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Neotectonics, flooding patterns and landscape evolution in southern Amazonia
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Early to mid-Holocene human activity exerted gradual influences on Amazonian forest vegetation
Nascimento, M. N., Heijink, B. M., Bush, M. B., Gosling, W. D., & McMichael, C. N. H. (2022) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2020.0498 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
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Scarce fire activity in north and north-western Amazonian forests during the last 10,000 years
Gosling, W. D., Maezumi, S. Y., Heijink, B. M., Nascimento, M. N., Raczka, M. F., van der Sande, M. T., Bush, M. B., & McMichael, C. N. H. (2021) · Plant Ecology & Diversity · doi:10.1080/17550874.2021.2008040 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Self-citationAnthropogenic Soils and Tree Distributions in a Lowland Forest in Bolivia
Paz‐Rivera, C., & Putz, F. E. (2009) · Biotropica · doi:10.1111/j.1744-7429.2009.00521.x · Cited by 30 · see citing works
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Lombardo, U., Denier, S., & Veit, H. (2015) · SOIL · doi:10.5194/soil-1-65-2015 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Handbook of South American Archaeology
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Landscape Domestication and Archaeology
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Encarni Montoya, A., Lombardo, U., Levis, C., C., G. A. A., & Mayle, F. E. (2020) · Fascinating life sciences · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-31167-4_19 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Shifting Cultivation and Biodiversity Conservation in Bhutan
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The Systemic Dimension of Globalization
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Yanomami Mobility and Its Effects on the Forest Landscape
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On the scaling and standardization of charcoal data in paleofire reconstructions
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Bush, M. B. (2020) · Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden · doi:10.3417/2020565 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
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Cerritos, tolas, tesos, camellones y otros montículos de las Tierras Bajas de Sudamérica
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Latin America and the Caribbean
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Landscape Domestication and Archaeology
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Comment on Clementet al. 2015 ‘The domestication of Amazonia before European conquest’
McMichael, C. N. H., Piperno, D. R., & Bush, M. B. (2015) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.1837 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Self-citationRogers, A. J., & Weisler, M. I. (2021) · Human Ecology · doi:10.1007/s10745-021-00297-y · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Response to comment by McMichael, Piperno and Bush
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Understanding perspectives of current palynology: using science with practical discourse
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Domestication of Amazonian forests
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Farming Technology in Amazonia
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A new local scale prediction model of Amazonian landscape domestication sites
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Forests and Farmers: GIS Analysis of Forest Islands and Large Raised Fields in the Bolivian Amazon
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Landscape Domestication and Archaeology
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Reconstructing Holocene landscape and environmental changes at Lago Rogaguado, Bolivian Amazon
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Past Fire and Vegetation Change in the Hyperdiverse Forests of the Ecuadorian Amazon
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Self-citationFarming Technology in Amazonia
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Developing evidence-based arguments to assess the pristine nature of Amazonian forests
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Centuries of compounding human influence on Amazonian forests
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Climate, vegetation, and fire, during the last deglaciation in northwestern Amazonia
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Bush, M. B., & Silman, M. R.
- Affiliations
- Florida Institute of Technology (US)
- Wake Forest University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bush, Mark B.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2007-11
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 457-465
- ISSN
- 1540-9295 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1981618295
- Cited by
- 122
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 122.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Wake Forest University
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil and Environmental Studies
- Keywords
- paleoecology, landscape disturbance, ecosystem resilience, river bluffs, seasonal habitat, human settlement patterns, environmental policy, Amazon deforestation
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