TY - JOUR
T1 - Widespread reforestation before European influence on Amazonia
AU - Bush, M.B.
AU - Nascimento, M.N.
AU - Åkesson, C.M.
AU - Cárdenes-Sandí, G.M.
AU - Maezumi, S.Y.
AU - Behling, H.
AU - Correa-Metrio, A.
AU - Church, W.
AU - Huisman, S.N.
AU - Kelly, T.
AU - Mayle, F.E.
AU - McMichael, C.N.H.
N1 - Funding: Ecuadorian work was conducted under Ecuadorian Collection Permit 08-2017-IC. M.B.B. acknowledges funding from the National Science Foundation (grants EAR1338694 and BCS0926973) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (grant NNX14AD31G). C.N.H.M. and M.N.N. acknowledge funding from the European Research Council (ERC 2019 StG 853394). M.N.N. also acknowledges a Florida Institute of Technology postdoctoral award. T.K. acknowledges a NERC-funded PhD studentship.
PY - 2021/4/30
Y1 - 2021/4/30
N2 - An estimated 90 to 95% of Indigenous people in Amazonia died after European contact. This population collapse is postulated to have caused decreases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations at around 1610 CE, as a result of a wave of land abandonment in the wake of disease, slavery, and warfare, whereby the attendant reversion to forest substantially increased terrestrial carbon sequestration. On the basis of 39 Amazonian fossil pollen records, we show that there was no synchronous reforestation event associated with such an atmospheric carbon dioxide response after European arrival in Amazonia. Instead, we find that, at most sites, land abandonment and forest regrowth began about 300 to 600 years before European arrival. Pre-European pandemics, social strife, or environmental change may have contributed to these early site abandonments and ecological shifts.
AB - An estimated 90 to 95% of Indigenous people in Amazonia died after European contact. This population collapse is postulated to have caused decreases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations at around 1610 CE, as a result of a wave of land abandonment in the wake of disease, slavery, and warfare, whereby the attendant reversion to forest substantially increased terrestrial carbon sequestration. On the basis of 39 Amazonian fossil pollen records, we show that there was no synchronous reforestation event associated with such an atmospheric carbon dioxide response after European arrival in Amazonia. Instead, we find that, at most sites, land abandonment and forest regrowth began about 300 to 600 years before European arrival. Pre-European pandemics, social strife, or environmental change may have contributed to these early site abandonments and ecological shifts.
U2 - 10.1126/science.abf3870
DO - 10.1126/science.abf3870
M3 - Article
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 372
SP - 484
EP - 487
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6541
ER -
