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Vegetational History of a Site in the Central Amazon Basin Derived from Phytolith and Charcoal Records from Natural Soils

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Dolores R. Piperno  and
Peter Becker
Dolores R. Piperno
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama
Peter Becker
Affiliation:
Biology Department, Universiti Brunei, Darussalam, Gadong, Brunei, 3186
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Abstract

Analysis of phytoliths and macroscopic charcoal from natural soils near Manaus, Brazil shows that the central Amazonian terra firme forest has not been stable during the Holocene. Phytolith taxonomic composition and radiocarbon ages indicate that a closed forest has continuously existed in the area since at least 4600 yr B.P., but that forest composition and species abundance changed significantly sometime during the Holocene Epoch. There is no evidence that the vegetation experienced swidden cultivation. The distribution and dates of the charcoal in the soils indicate that forest fires between 1795 and 550 yr B.P. burned an area of about 200 hectares. Vegetational changes and fires appear to be a result of climatic drying that may have affected large areas of the Amazon Basin over the past 5000 to 7000 years. Soil phytolith analysis is a promising tool for the study of environmental history in the humid tropics and may reduce the previous dependence on lake and swamp sediments, at least for the Holocene Epoch.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , March 1996 , pp. 202 - 209
Copyright
University of Washington

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