Beyond Waters Archaeology and Environmental History of the Amazonian Inland
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The Potential for Harvesting Fruits in Tropical Rainforests: New Data from Amazonian Peru
Biodiversity and Conversation 2, 18-38 The potential for harvesting fruits in tropical rainforests: new data from Amazonian Peru OLIVER PHILLIPS* Department Of' Biology, Washington University, Campus Box 1137, 1 Brookings Drive, St Louis, MO 63130- 4899, USA Received 28 January 1992; accepted 18 February 1992 New data shows that edible fruit and nut production in Amazonian forests is substantially lower than most conservationists assume. Direct measures of production in Amazonian Peru show that two terra firrna forest types produced significantly less edible fruit than an alluvial soil forest. Swamp forest produced more edible fruit than any other forest type measured. Palms produce 60% of edible fruit productivity, averaged over three forest types, but the most preferred palm fruits are difficult to harvest because they are borne too high for easy access by collectors. Forest fruit collection in Amazonia is less productive in the short-term than all other food-producing activities except for hunting and cattle ranching. Technological, social and political changes are essential so that sustainable but intrinsically low-yielding extractive activities like fruit collecting become more attractive to Amazonians. Keywords: harvesting; rainforest; fruit and nut; Amazonian Peru Introduction In the last five years, there has been growing interest in the promise of sustained-yield collection of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) from tropical forests as an alternative to deforestation. The broad range of NTFPs harvested by forest-dwelling people includes medicinals, fruits, and industrial materials such as rubber and rattan. Potentially, the combined value of such prodcuts, available year-after-year on a sustainable basis, may make NTFP collection an attractive alternative to destructive uses of tropical forests (e.g. -
O Alto Solimões Mantidos Pela Organização Geral Dos Professores Ticunas Bilíngues (OGPTB)
Notas para uma História dos Brancos no Solimões Julio Cezar Melatti Introdução Por força de minhas relações pessoais, tenho tomado conhecimento, ocasional e fragmentariamente, do andamento dos cursos destinados à formação dos professores indígenas do alto Solimões mantidos pela Organização Geral dos Professores Ticunas Bilíngues (OGPTB). Sem me referir à própria história e tradições de seu povo, que somente eles próprios, com ajuda dos mais velhos, podem contar, comecei a pensar sobre que fontes de informação disporiam esses professores para preparar suas aulas de História e Geografia, relacionadas a sua situação no Brasil e no Mundo, além dos próprios livros escolares preparados nas grandes e afastadas metrópoles. Acredito que teriam de começar por aquilo que os toca mais de perto. A proposta seria tomar os eventos ocorridos no alto Solimões como oportunidades para discutir fenômenos de âmbito mais amplo aos quais estão relacionados. E o Solimões, junto a cujas margens vivem os ticunas, os cocamas, os caixanas, além de outros povos indígenas, se presta de modo muito favorável a esse propósito por ter sido a via percorrida por um significativo número de personagens envolvidos em acontecimentos, indagações, causas, interesses, relacionados a sucessivos ou concorrentes centros metropolitanos. Um naturalista como La Condamine, por exemplo, que desceu o rio em 1743, serve de mote para desenvolver temas como a esfericidade da Terra e o achatamento dos pólos, o cálculo da longitude, a velocidade do som, a divulgação dos conhecimentos indígenas sobre o curare e a borracha, os tratamentos precursores da vacina anti-variólica. A descrição por Spix e Martius de coletas de quantidades gigantescas de ovos de tartaruga, inconcebíveis nos dias de hoje, seguida da confecção da chamada manteiga, bem como da captura indiscriminada das próprias tartarugas, dão uma idéia das consequências desastrosas que resultam da falta de preocupação com a conservação do meio ambiente, uma consequência que os dois pesquisadores já previam em 1819, quando presenciaram essas atividades. -
Redalyc.Revisiting First Contacts on the Amazon 1500-1562
Tempo ISSN: 1413-7704 [email protected] Universidade Federal Fluminense Brasil Harris, Mark Revisiting first contacts on the Amazon 1500-1562 Tempo, vol. 23, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2017, pp. 508-527 Universidade Federal Fluminense Niterói, Brasil Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=167053642006 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Amazônia e Dossiê História Global Abstract: This article revisits four well-known Revisiting first accounts of the first European encounters with Amerindians in the Amazon. The sporadic character of these encounters make the impact on Amerindian contacts on societies irregular and uneven. My analysis is directed to the present condition as encountered, especially the the Amazon variety of contacts. This approach obliges the text be treated as a whole, rather than being read selectively. Maintaining the integrity of the text allows us to see 1500-1562 the different kinds of relations in their contexts. My intention is to use these reports to search for the brid- ges across cultural separations. Each drew the other Mark Harris[1] towards them, in their own ways. These steps opened the way for the “refounding” of indigenous riverine so- cieties in the seventeenth century. Keywords: Amazon; encounter; Indians. Revisitando os primeiros contatos na Amazônia, 1500-1562 Resumo: Este artigo analisa quatro relatos bem co- nhecidos dos primeiros encontros europeus com ameríndios na Amazônia. O caráter irregular desses encontros torna o impacto nas sociedades amerín- dias desigual. -
Descubrimiento Del Río De Las Amazonas
Descubrimiento del río de las Amazonas Gaspar de Carvajal Relación que escribió Fr. Gaspar de Carvajal, Fraile de la Orden de Santo Domingo de Guzmán, del nuevo descubrimiento del famoso río grande que descubrió por muy gran ventura el Capitán Francisco de Orellana desde su nacimiento hasta, salir al mar, con cincuenta y siete hombres que trajo consigo y se echó a su ventura por el dicho río, y por el nombre del Capitán que le descubrió se llamó el Río de Orellana —VII El padre Gaspar de Carvajal La Provincia de Extremadura, en la España de los Reyes Católicos y del Emperador Carlos V, fue rico venero de contingente humano en el descubrimiento, la conquista y la colonización de América. De su suelo arisco e inquieto surgieron aventureros audaces que buscaron fortuna para sus exhaustos caudales y gloria para sus nombres casi siempre modestos y olvidados en el propio terruño. Y con ellos, como para desvanecer los desaciertos de las espadas de los más atrevidos, vinieron los misioneros de Órdenes religiosas que con la palabra evangélica y la Cruz de Cristo sembraron entre la raza aborigen la simiente del consuelo y de la resignación, el alivio de tantos quebrantos y la fe en los destinos futuros de regiones al parecer inhóspitas y crueles. Uno de esos apóstoles, verdaderos mártires en el límite que separa la vida de la muerte, fue el Padre Gaspar de Carvajal. Nació este ilustre fraile de Santo Domingo de Guzmán en la ciudad de Trujillo hacia el año de 1504, y a fines de 1536 se embarcó para Tierra Firme con ocho compañeros suyos de claustro, en cumplimiento de la real Cédula de 30 de septiembre de 1535, que ordenaba el envío de religiosos al Perú «para la instrucción de los naturales della en las cosas de nuestra santa Fee católica». -
(Moraceae) and the Position of the Genus Olmedia R. & P
On the wood anatomy of the tribe “Olmedieae” (Moraceae) and the position of the genus Olmedia R. & P. Alberta+M.W. MennegaandMarijke Lanzing-Vinkenborg Instituut voorSystematische Plantkunde,Utrecht SUMMARY The structure ofthe wood ofthe Olmedia genera Castilla, Helicostylis, Maquira, Naucleopsis, , Perebeaand Pseudolmedia,considered to belongin the Olmedieae (cf. Berg 1972) is described. The in anatomical between the is and it is hard to diversity structure genera small, distinguish Maquira, Perebea and Pseudolmedia from each other. Castilla can be recognized by its thin- walled and wide-lumined fibres, Helicostylis by its parenchyma distribution, Naucleopsis (usually) by its more numerous vessels with a smaller diameter. A more marked difference is shown the Olmedia with banded instead of by monotypic genus apotracheal parenchyma the aliform confluent-banded of the other paratracheal to parenchyma genera. Septate which characteristic for the other - of fibres, are genera some species Helicostylis excepted - are nearly completely absent in Olmedia. This structural difference is considered as an in of the exclusion Olmedia from tribe Olmedieae argument favour of the (Berg 1977). 1. INTRODUCTION The structure of the secondary wood of the Moraceae shows in comparison to that of other families rather uniform This is true many a pattern. particularly for most genera of the tribe Olmedieae. Differences are mainly found in size and numberof vessels, absence of fibres, and in the distribu- or presence septate tion and quantity ofaxial parenchyma. Besides the description of the Moraceae have Tippo’s in Metcalfe& Chalk’s Anatomy ofthe Dicotyledons (1950), we the and of the American (1938) account of family a treatment genera by Record & Hess (1940). -
Ghanian African Dark Earths As an Alternative to Nitrogen- Based Fertilisers
MSc Program Environmental Technology & International Affairs Ghanian African Dark Earths as an Alternative to Nitrogen- Based Fertilisers A Master's Thesis submitted for the degree of “Master of Science” supervised by Mag. Dr. Andrea Watzinger Victoria Keogh, MA 11933241 Vienna, 19.06.2021 Affidavit I, VICTORIA KEOGH, MA, hereby declare 1. that I am the sole author of the present Master’s Thesis, "GHANIAN AFRICAN DARK EARTHS AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO NITROGEN- BASED FERTILISERS", 73 pages, bound, and that I have not used any source or tool other than those referenced or any other illicit aid or tool, and 2. that I have not prior to this date submitted the topic of this Master’s Thesis or parts of it in any form for assessment as an examination paper, either in Austria or abroad. Vienna, 19.06.2021 _______________________ Signature Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) Abstract Nitrogen-based fertilizers produce crops which sustains half of the global population. While they are intrinsic for human life, excess nitrogen from fertilizer use has a negative impact on air, soil, and water quality. Furthermore, these fertilizers can gradually degrade the fertility of soils, and the production of nitrogen-based fertilizer consumes and emits large quantities of fossil fuels. Fertilizer use cannot be removed but could potentially be replaced. This thesis focuses on African Dark Earths in Ghana and discusses the feasibility of using these soils as an alternative for nitrogen-based fertilizer. This question has been examined through an overview of available literature and data regarding known anthropogenic soils in both the Amazonian Basin and West Africa. -
Chec List What Survived from the PLANAFLORO Project
Check List 10(1): 33–45, 2014 © 2014 Check List and Authors Chec List ISSN 1809-127X (available at www.checklist.org.br) Journal of species lists and distribution What survived from the PLANAFLORO Project: PECIES S Angiosperms of Rondônia State, Brazil OF 1* 2 ISTS L Samuel1 UniCarleialversity of Konstanz, and Narcísio Department C.of Biology, Bigio M842, PLZ 78457, Konstanz, Germany. [email protected] 2 Universidade Federal de Rondônia, Campus José Ribeiro Filho, BR 364, Km 9.5, CEP 76801-059. Porto Velho, RO, Brasil. * Corresponding author. E-mail: Abstract: The Rondônia Natural Resources Management Project (PLANAFLORO) was a strategic program developed in partnership between the Brazilian Government and The World Bank in 1992, with the purpose of stimulating the sustainable development and protection of the Amazon in the state of Rondônia. More than a decade after the PLANAFORO program concluded, the aim of the present work is to recover and share the information from the long-abandoned plant collections made during the project’s ecological-economic zoning phase. Most of the material analyzed was sterile, but the fertile voucher specimens recovered are listed here. The material examined represents 378 species in 234 genera and 76 families of angiosperms. Some 8 genera, 68 species, 3 subspecies and 1 variety are new records for Rondônia State. It is our intention that this information will stimulate future studies and contribute to a better understanding and more effective conservation of the plant diversity in the southwestern Amazon of Brazil. Introduction The PLANAFLORO Project funded botanical expeditions In early 1990, Brazilian Amazon was facing remarkably in different areas of the state to inventory arboreal plants high rates of forest conversion (Laurance et al. -
Gold, Landscape, and Economy in Cristobal De Acuña’S Nuevo Descubrimiento Del Gran Rio De Las Amazonas (1641)
Gold, Landscape, and Economy in Cristobal de Acuña’s Nuevo Descubrimiento del Gran Rio de las Amazonas (1641) DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Daniel Dinca M.A. Graduate Program in Spanish and Portuguese The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Professor Ulises Juan Zevallos-Aguilar, advisor Professor Ignacio Corona Professor Fernando Unzueta Copyright by Daniel Dinca 2015 Abstract This dissertation analyzes how nature is represented and the functions it serves in the discourse of Nuevo descubrimiento del Gran rio de las Amazonas (1641) written by Cristobal de Acuña, one of the first detailed published accounts about the “discovery” of the Amazon region by Europeans. I argue that in Cristobal de Acuña’s narrative, Nuevo descubrimiento del Gran rio de las Amazonas (1641), the narrating subject tries to persuade the Spanish Crown to acknowledge the great economic potential that the natural resources from the Amazon region have to offer, how they would add to the wealth of the Spanish Empire and implicitly begin the Spanish efforts to colonize and evangelize the Amazon region. I claim that Acuña is “ahead of his time” and thinks like an innovative entrepreneurial capitalist proposing a new economic model for generating sustainable wealth: extraction and manufacture of the natural resources found in the Amazon region under a “state-guided” capitalistic system. Acuña does not just describe the unique, exotic landscapes he encounters in his voyage down the Amazon River, but rather these landscape descriptions serve the purpose of emphasizing the economic value of nature in the region. -
The Castilleae, a Tribe of the Moraceae, Renamed and Redefined Due to the Exclusion of the Type Genus Olmedia From
Bot. Neerl. Ada 26(1), February 1977, p. 73-82, The Castilleae, a tribe of the Moraceae, renamed and redefined due to the exclusion of the type genus Olmedia from the “Olmedieae” C.C. Berg Instituut voor Systematische Plantkunde, Utrecht SUMMARY New data on in the of Moraceae which known cladoptosis group was up to now as the tribe Olmedieae led to a reconsideration ofthe position ofOlmedia, and Antiaropsis , Sparattosyce. The remainder ofthe tribe is redefined and is named Castilleae. 1. INTRODUCTION The monotypic genus Olmedia occupies an isolated position within the neo- tropical Olmedieae. Its staminate flowers have valvate tepals, inflexed stamens springing back elastically at anthesis, and sometimes well-developed pistil- lodes. Current anatomical research on the wood of Moraceae (by Dr. A. M. W. Mennega) and recent field studies (by the present author) revealed that Olmedia is also distinct in anatomical characters of the wood and because of the lack of self-pruning branches. These differences between Olmedia and the other representatives of the tribe demand for reconsideration of the position of the genus and the deliminationof the tribe. The Olmedia described The genus was by Ruiz & Pavon (1794). original description mentioned that the stamens bend outward elastically at anthesis. Nevertheless it was placed in the “Artocarpeae” (cf. Endlicher 1836-1840; Trecul 1847), whereas it should have been placed in the “Moreae” on ac- of of count the characters the stamens which were rather exclusively used for separating the two taxa. Remarkably Trecul (1847) in his careful study on the “Artocarpeae” disregarded the (described) features of the stamens. -
Foreign Military Studies Office Publications
WARNING! The views expressed in FMSO publications and reports are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. Guerrilla in The Brazilian Amazon by Colonel Alvaro de Souza Pinheiro, Brazilian Army commentary by Mr. William W. Mendel Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, KS. July 1995 Acknowledgements The authors owe a debt of gratitude to Marcin Wiesiolek, FMSO analyst and translator, for the figures used in this study. Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey B. Demarest and Lieutenant Colonel John E. Sray, FMSO analysts, kindly assisted the authors with editing the paper. PRÉCIS Colonel Alvaro de Souza Pinheiro discusses the historical basis for Brazil's current strategic doctrine for defending the Brazilian Amazon against a number of today's transnational threats. He begins with a review of the audacious adventure of Pedro Teixeira, known in Brazilian history as "The Conqueror of the Amazon." The Teixeira expedition of 1637 discovered and manned the principle tributaries of the Amazon River, and it established an early Portuguese- Brazilian claim to the region. By the decentralized use of his forces in jungle and riverine operations, and through actions characterized by surprise against superior forces, Captain Pedro Teixeira established the Brazilian tradition of jungle warfare. These tactics have been emulated since those early times by Brazil's military leaders. Alvaro explains the use of similar operations in Brazil's 1970 counterguerrilla experience against rural Communist insurgents. The actions to suppress FOGUERA (the Araguaia Guerrilla Force, military arm of the Communist Party of Brazil) provided lessons of joint military cooperation and the integration of civilian agency resources with those of the military. -
Lope De Aguirre and the Search for El Dorado in the Latin American Historical Novel
Bart L. Lewis. The Miraculous Lie: Lope de Aguirre and the Search for El Dorado in the Latin American Historical Novel. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2003. 184p. José I. Suárez University of Northern Colorado Known generally as the protagonist of Werner Herzog’s 1972 film, Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (Aguirre, the Wrath of God), the sixteenth-century Spanish adventurer, Lope de Aguirre, first attained infamy through the written accounts of the period. A subaltern of Francisco Pizarro during the Peruvian conquest, Aguirre mutinied against his leader and, with a handful of malcontents, embarked down the Amazon River in search of the fabled city of gold, El Dorado. What set him apart from other soldiers of fortune was his inordinate cruelty during the elusive search. Although he plotted the death of two high government officials, Pedro de Ursúa (the expedition’s officially appointed leader) and Fernando de Guzmán, and murdered dozens of his men for supposed offenses, none of his acts exceeded in cruelty his stabbing to death his mestiza daughter Elvira. Mutineers who survived his homicidal whims, sickened by all they had witnessed, ended his life in the violent manner befitting the monster: they shot him, beheaded him, and dispersed his body parts “about the countryside as a warning to other would be traitors” (9). While Aguirre was as bloodthirsty, treacherous, and mentally imbalanced as the chroniclers depict him, he nonetheless played a primary role in the forging of the “American identity.” His disapproval of Spain’s actions in the New World led him to renounce his Spanish citizenship in a 1561 letter to King Philip II. -
Interactive Comment on “Origin, Distribution, and Characteristics of Archaeological Dark Earth Soils – a Review” by Michael O
SOIL Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2020-51-AC4, 2020 © Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Interactive comment on “Origin, distribution, and characteristics of Archaeological Dark Earth soils – A review” by Michael O. Asare et al. Michael O. Asare et al. [email protected] Received and published: 14 November 2020 Abstract Archaeological black earth (ABE) can be classified as a layer of anthrosol vi- sually characterized by black color mainly due to homogenous charcoal inclusion and a substantial nutrient enrichment compared to surrounding control soil. The study aimed to provide a detailed overview of the variability, distributions, and characteristics of ABEs relating to their classifications as well as the physicochemical properties. The study revealed that ABE mostly is distributed from the tropics (Amazonian and African dark earth), moderate climatic zone (European dark earth) up to the Arctic (kitchen middens). The development of the ABEs relates the deliberate and unintentional de- position of domestic and occupational wastes, charred residues, bones, and biomass ashes from prehistoric up to recent times. ABEs exhibit optimum C: N ratio for min- C1 eralization, stable organic matter content, and higher CEC compared to surrounding soils. Archaeological Black Earths are characterized by slightly acidic to neutral soil reactions and a substantially enriched by C, N, P, Ca, Mn, Cu, Zn, Mn, Mg, Fe, Sr, Rb, and Ba in comparison to surrounding control. The unclear remains the level of ABEs enrichment as enrichment factors of elements often relate to different analytical meth- ods from plants-available up to total contents.