Past Fire and Vegetation Change in the Hyperdiverse Forests of the Ecuadorian Amazon
Britte M. Heijink,
Annabel Zwarts,
Nina H. Witteveen,
Jessica Watson,
Arie Ebbenhorst,
Fedde Veenman,
Mats Kessel,
Susana León-Yánez,
Juan Ernesto Guevara-Andino,
María-José Endara,
Gonzalo Rivas-Torres,
Mark B. Bush,
Crystal N. H. McMichael
Affiliations
Britte M. Heijink
Department of Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Annabel Zwarts
Department of Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Nina H. Witteveen
Department of Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Jessica Watson
Institute for Global Change, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
Arie Ebbenhorst
Department of Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Fedde Veenman
Department of Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Mats Kessel
Department of Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Susana León-Yánez
Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito 170143, Ecuador
Juan Ernesto Guevara-Andino
Grupo de Investigación en Ecología y Evolución en los Trópicos-EETrop, Universidad de las Américas, Quito 170124, Ecuador
María-José Endara
Grupo de Investigación en Ecología y Evolución en los Trópicos-EETrop, Universidad de las Américas, Quito 170124, Ecuador
Gonzalo Rivas-Torres
Estación de Biodiversidad Tiputini, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Quito 170901, Ecuador
Mark B. Bush
Institute for Global Change, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
Crystal N. H. McMichael
Department of Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The Ecuadorian Amazon holds more biodiversity than most other places on Earth. Palms are a particularly dominant component of the vegetation; however, it remains unknown to what degree the pattern has persisted through time. Here, we investigate the persistence of palm dominance through time and the degree to which past human activities (e.g., fire, cultivation, and forest opening) have affected changes in palm abundances across five regions of the Ecuadorian Amazon. We analyzed soil cores (40–80 cm depth) from each region for charcoal (evidence of past fire) and phytoliths (evidence of past vegetation change). The timings of fires (based on 14C radiocarbon dates), the occurrence, recurrence, and number of fires (based on charcoal presence and abundance in samples), and the amount of change in palm abundances (based on phytoliths) varied within and between the studied regions. The charcoal and phytolith results indicate the presence of low levels of past human activity at all sites. Our results show that patterns of modern palm hyperdominance found in Amazonian forests have not been persistent through time, and that even low levels of past human activities can affect palm abundance.
