Long-term ecological legacies in western Amazonia

1. Modifications of Amazonian forests by pre-Columbian peoples are thought to have left ecological legacies that have persisted to the modern day. Most Amazonian palaeoecological records do not, however, provide the required temporal resolution to document the nuanced changes of pre-Columbian disturbance or post-disturbance succession and recovery, making it difficult to detect any direct, or indirect, ecological legacies on tree species.

2. Here, we investigate the fossil pollen, phytolith, and charcoal history of Lake Kumpaka, Ecuador, during the last 2415 years in c. 3-50 year time intervals to assess ecological legacies resulting from pre-Columbian forest modification, disturbance, cultivation, and fire usage.

3. Two cycles of pre-Columbian cultivation (one including slash-and burn cultivation, the other including slash-and-mulch cultivation) were documented in the record around 2150-1430 cal. yr BP and 1250-680 cal. yr BP, with following post-disturbance succession dynamics. ...