Environmental Consequences of the Demise in Swidden Cultivation in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia: Hydrology and Geomorphology

The hydrological and geomorphological impacts of traditional swidden cultivation in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia are virtually inconsequential, whereas the impacts associated with intensified replacement agricultural systems are often much more substantial. Negative perceptions toward swiddening in general by governments in the region beginning half a decade ago have largely been based on cases of forest conversion and land degradation associated with (a) intensified swidden systems, characterized by shortened fallow and extended cropping periods and/or (b) the widespread cultivation of opium for cash after the Second World War. Neither of these practices should be viewed as traditional, subsistence-based swiddening. Other types of intensive agriculture systems are now replacing swiddening throughout the region, including semi-permanent and permanent cash cropping, monoculture plantations, and greenhouse complexes. The negative impacts associated with these systems include changes in streamflow response, increased surface erosion, a higher probability of landslides, and the declination in stream water quality. Unlike the case for traditional swiddening, these impacts result because of several factors: (1) large portions of upland catchments are cultivated simultaneously; (2) accelerated hydraulic and tillage erosion occurs on plots that are cultivated repetitively with limited or no fallowing to allow recovery of key soil properties, including infiltration; (3) concentrated overland flow and erosion sources are often directly connected with the stream network; (4) root strength is reduced on permanently converted hillslopes; (5) surface and ground water extraction is frequently used for irrigation; and (6) and pesticides and herbicides are used. Furthermore, the commercial success of these systems relies on the existence of dense networks of roads, which are linear landscape features renowned for disrupting hydrological and geomorphological systems. A new conservation focus is needed to reduce the impacts of these intensified upland agricultural practices.     

An Assessment of Trends in the Extent of Swidden in Southeast Asia

Swidden systems consisting of temporarily cultivated land and associated fallows often do not appear on land use maps or in statistical records. This is partly due to the fact that swidden is a diverse and dynamic land use system that is difficult to map and partly because of the practice of grouping land covers associated with swidden systems into land use or land cover categories that are not self-evidently linked to swiddening. Additionally, in many parts of Southeast Asia swidden systems have changed or are in the process of changing into other land use systems. This paper assesses the extent of swidden on the basis of regional and national sources for nine countries, and determines the pattern of changes of swidden on the basis of 151 cases culled from 67 articles. Findings include (1) a majority of the cases document swidden being replaced by other forms of agriculture or by other livelihood systems; (2) in cases where swiddening is still practiced, fallow lengths are usually, but not always, shorter; and (3) shortened fallow length does not necessarily indicate a trend away from swidden since it is observed that short fallow swidden is sometimes maintained along with other more intensive farming practices and not completely abandoned. The paper concludes that there is a surprising lack of conclusive data on the extent of swidden in Southeast Asia. In order to remedy this, methods are reviewed that may lead to more precise future assessments.     

Village division in lowland South America: The case of the Bakairí Indians of central Brazil

A Brazilian Indian village divided into several settlements during the 1980s. In this article, the political ecology approach is used to account for the process whereby this occurred. Data on ecology, subsistence practices, demography, and regional dynamics are presented. Analysis of results explores the articulation between shifts in population levels both in the region and in the Indian reservation, on one hand, with environmental stresses on reservation resources. The effects on national economic development programs on the regional and local levels are also discussed. The relationship between these policies and programs, on one hand, and alterations in local production systems are made explicit.     

Paleoethnobotany of the Early Initial Period of Gramalote in Northern Peru

The Gramalote site is an early Initial Period (1500–1200 B.C.E.) fishing village located in the Moche valley in northern Peru. Previous research assessed the social dynamics and economic interactions within that fishing settlement. The well-preserved animal and plant record facilitates the archeological study of diet and subsistence strategies through time. The examinations of faunal remains of seabirds, sea mammals, and mollusk shells support the expected marine-oriented subsistence strategy. However, the site also contains a long record of botanical remains suggesting that people had access to plant resources. For this reason, a paleoethnobotanical study was conducted with the focus on reconstructing the pollen record of Gramalote. Previously identified botanical remains were also considered. The analysis of diverse botanical proxies helped to study the relationships between humans and plants in this region of northern Peru during the second millennium B.C.E. Grasses; reeds; food, woody, and wild plants were identified suggesting an environment that allowed small-scale agriculture and a trading network during the Initial Period of Gramalote.     

After the Revolution: Post-Neolithic Subsistence in Northern Mesopotamia

Over the past two decades there has been a proliferation of studies that reveal a far greater diversity in the pathways to food production worldwide than would have been predicted by traditional models of the Neolithic Revolution. It would now appear that, while there are certain universal elements in the origins of food production, each instance of the incorporation of domestic resources into the subsistence economy is shaped by highly localized social and natural forces. It is perhaps not surprising, then, to find that the times after the Neolithic Revolution do not conform to earlier uniformitarian conceptions of the origin of food production as either a technological blessing or an environmental blight that locked people into an economy based solely on domestic resources. This examination of subsistence at Umm Qseir, one small post-Neolithic community in the Khabur Draïnage of Northern Mesopotamia, highlights the remarkable degree of flexibility and individualized response in post-Neolithic economies in the Near East, especially in marginal areas. The incorporation of both domestic and wild resources into the economy of inhabitants of this site is further shown not to be just an isolated curiosity. Rather, Umm Qseir joins a number of other post-Neolithic communities situated in marginal areas, persisting several millennia after the first introduction of domestic crops and animals, that also fashioned highly individualized subsistence economies based on both wild and damestic resources. In the Khabur Drainage, the blending of domestic and wild resources in the subsistence of people situated in more arid areas is replaced by a more "conventional" agropastoral economy only with development of urbanism and the imposition of an agricultural economy of scale on this fragile environment.     

Public attitudes and needs around Kasungu National Park,Malawi

A survey of people's needs and attitudes around Kasungu National Park shows that there are 11 resources that the people want to utilize from the Park. Bee-keeping is the most popular activity. Others include collection of caterpillars, firewood, building materials and mushrooms. There is no significant difference in demand for all these resources between subsistence and commercial farmers (t=3.26, n=11, p>0.01). Also, the difference between commercial farmers and urban respondents is not significant (t=1.92, n=11, p>0.01). On the other hand significantly more commercial than subsistence farmers need land from the Park, while more subsistence than commercial farmers wish to harvest resources that satisfy basic needs (t=3.34, n=11, p<0.01). Therefore, we recommend that the Department should extend the resource use programme and diversify its activities. The main target communities should be the subsistence farmers in Chulu and Kaphaizi villages.Most respondents to the survey believe that bee-keeping and tree caterpillar collection are beneficial as a source of food and income. About 90% of the respondents would like to participate in these activities. This is a reflection of positive attitudes towards these activities and it is enough justification for encouragement of bee-keeping and caterpillar collection. Although the respondents' attitudes towards the project are not negative, we recommend the involvement of local people in all stages of future activities.     

Environmental imperatives reconsidered: demographic crises in western North America during the medieval climatic anomaly

Review of late Holocene paleoenvironmental and cultural sequences from four regions of western North America show striking correlations between drought and changes in subsistence, population, exchange, health, and interpersonal violence during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (A.D. 800-1350). While ultimate causality is difficult to identify in the archaeological record, synchrony of the environmental and cultural changes and the negative character of many human responses--increased interpersonal violence, deterioration of long-distance exchange relationships, and regional abandonments--suggest widespread demographic crises caused by decreased environmental productivity. The medieval droughts occurred at a unique juncture in the demographic history of western North America when unusually large populations of both hunter-gathers and agriculturalists had evolved highly intensified economies that put them in unprecedented ecological jeopardy. Long-term patterns in the archaeological record are inconsistent with the predicted outcomes of simple adaptation or continuous economic intensification, suggesting that in this instance environmental dynamics played a major role in cultural transformations across a wide expanse of western North America among groups with diverse subsistence strategies. These events suggest that environment should not be overlooked as a potential cause of prehistoric culture change.     

Long-Term Resilience of Late Holocene Coastal Subsistence System in Southeastern South America

Isotopic and molecular analysis on human, fauna and pottery remains can provide valuable new insights into the diets and subsistence practices of prehistoric populations. These are crucial to elucidate the resilience of social-ecological systems to cultural and environmental change. Bulk collagen carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis of 82 human individuals from mid to late Holocene Brazilian archaeological sites (∼6,700 to ∼1,000 cal BP) reveal an adequate protein incorporation and, on the coast, the continuation in subsistence strategies based on the exploitation of aquatic resources despite the introduction of pottery and domesticated plant foods. These results are supported by carbon isotope analysis of single amino acid extracted from bone collagen. Chemical and isotopic analysis also shows that pottery technology was used to process marine foods and therefore assimilated into the existing subsistence strategy. Our multidisciplinary results demonstrate the resilient character of the coastal economy to cultural change during the late Holocene in southern Brazil.     

Agroecology of Tropical Underground Crops for Small-Scale Agriculture

The important tropical root and tuberous crops cassava (Manihot esculenta), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), yams (Dioscorea spp.), and the aroids (especially Xanthosoma and Colocasia spp.) represent an important source of relatively inexpensive carbohydrates to large sectors of the population in tropical areas. One or more tropical root crops are normally a staple in rural communities and are typically grown on small-scale subsistence farms. The current status of the agroecology research on these crops, including productivity under polyculture systems, resource (water, nutrients, light, space) utilization, tolerance to environmental stress, pest dynamics response to habitat manipulation, and alternative cultural practices, is reviewed in this paper as they relate to the performance of these crops in small-scale tropical agricultural systems. The development of technological recommendations to improve the productivity of tropical root crops in the tropics is dependent on an understanding of important underlying agroecological principles. The objective of background ecophysiological work is to develop crop-specific technological packages appropriate to low-input subsistence farming, and to match specific crops with a cropping system that will result in adequate yields and in ecological and socioeconomical sustainability. Because of the close relationship between crops and humans in small-scale farms of the tropics, it is imperative that agroecology research be holistic, multidisciplinary, and cognizant of the many socioeconomic and cultural factors that will determine whether improved technologies will be adopted in any given location.     

Kuku—Yalanji Rainforest Aboriginal People and Carbohydrate Resource Management in the Wet Tropics of Queensland, Australia

Carbohydrate food sources have emerged as a critical factor limiting occupation of rainforests by hunter—gatherer peoples globally. In the wet tropics bioregion of northeastern Australia, Kuku–Yalanji aboriginal people occupied the rainforests through a hunter–gatherer subsistence economy prior to European occupation. Collaborative environmental research between a researcher at the James Cook University and Kuku–Yalanji people has established that their fire management protected carbohydrate resources in the fire-sensitive rainforests and their margins, and ensured ongoing access to the critical dry season carbohydrate resource, Cycas media, growing in patches of fire-prone open forest on each clan estate. Carbohydrate resources in the wet season were obtained predominantly from seeds of rainforest tree nuts, a high proportion of which are wet tropics endemic species. Several of the genera utilized by aboriginal people in the wet tropics bioregion also occur in the rainforests of eastern Cape York Peninsula, where they were not utilized as foods. It is hypothesized that use of rainforest seeds for carbohydrate is a cultural adaptation that occurred in the wet tropics bioregion, stimulated by the unique availability of the substantial number of large-seeded rainforest trees that are wet tropics endemics. The implications of these data for concepts about the impact of aboriginal fires on Australian rainforests are considered. Aboriginal fires imposed a fine patterning on the vegetation at the local scale, with little effect on the vegetation at the regional scale, which is determined by environmental factors.     

Environmental correlates of adaptive diversification in postglacial freshwater fishes

Determining how environmental conditions contribute to divergence among populations and drive speciation is fundamental to resolving mechanisms and understanding outcomes in evolutionary biology. Postglacial freshwater fish species in the Northern Hemisphere are ideal biological systems to explore the effects of environment on diversification in morphology, ecology, and genetics (ecomorph divergences) within lakes. To date, various environmental factors have been implicated in the presence of multiple ecomorphs within particular lakes or regions. However, concerted evidence for generalizable patterns in environmental variables associated with speciation across geographical regions and across species and genera has been lacking. Here, we aimed to identify key biotic and abiotic factors associated with ecological divergence of postglacial freshwater fish species into multiple sympatric ecomorphs, focusing on species in the well-studied, widespread, and co-distributed genera Gasterosteus, Salvelinus, and Coregonus (stickleback, charr, and whitefish, respectively). We found that the presence of multiple sympatric ecomorphs tended to be associated with increasing lake surface area, maximum depth, and nutrient availability. In addition, predation, competition, and prey availability were suggested to play a role in divergence into multiple ecomorphs, but the effects of biotic factors require further study. Although we identified several environmental factors correlated with the presence of multiple ecomorphs, there were substantial data gaps across species and regions. An improved understanding of these systems may provide insight into both generalizable environmental factors involved in speciation in other systems, and potential ecological and evolutionary responses of species complexes when these variables are altered by environmental change.     

In situ conservation of crop genetic resources through maintenance of traditional farming systems

A strategy is suggested for in situ conservation of crop genetic resources whereby conservation efforts are linked to rural development projects in Third World countries. We describe development projects that emphasize preservation of traditional farming systems and succeed in sustaining production by relying on the maintenance of biological and genetic diversity in these systems. Basing agricultural development efforts on indigenous knowledge, technology, and social organization can provide important guidelines for the design of cropping systems that allow lowincome farmers to produce subsistence and cash crops without dependence on external inputs and seed supplies. By incorporating landraces and wild relatives of crops into these cropping systems, major achievements in the conservation of crop genetic resources can be obtained.     

Archeology as Long-Term Ethnography

Behavioral variation from year to year is archeologically invisible, yet it may have important effects on the archeological record. Moreover, much of current theory demands that we give attention to such variation. Rather than adopting normative reconstructions from ethnographies, archeologists must view the archeological record as a long-term ethnography, confounded by such variations in behavior. Using an ecological perspective, patterns of behavioral variation can be linked to environmental characteristics, with implications for the archeological record of settlement and subsistence. The Paleolithic and Mesolithic of southwest Germany are used to illustrate this approach.     

Pyrodiversity and the anthropocene: the role of fire in the broad spectrum revolution

The Anthropocene colloquially refers to a global regime of human‐caused environmental modification of earth systems associated with profound changes in patterns of human mobility, as well as settlement and resource use compared with prior eras. Some have argued that the processes generating the Anthropocene are mainly associated with population growth and technological innovation, and thus began only in the late Holocene under conditions of dense sedentism and industrial agriculture.¹ However, it now seems clear that the roots of the Anthropocene lie in complex processes of intensification that significantly predate transitions to agriculture.^2,3 What intensification is remains less clear. For some it is increasing economic productivity that increases carrying capacity, the drivers of which may be too diverse and too local to generalize.^4,5 For others using Boserup's ideas about agrarian intensification, increasing density in hunter‐gatherer populations can produce declines in subsistence efficiency that increase incentives for investing labor to boost yield per unit area, which then elevates Malthusian limits on carrying capacity.^6–8 As Morgan⁹ demonstrates in a comprehensive review, the legacy of such Boserupian intensification is alive, well, and controversial in hunter‐gatherer archeology. This is a result of its potential for illuminating processes involved in transformations of forager socio‐political and economic systems, including those dominated by harvesting more immediate‐return resources and high residential mobility as well as those characterized by more delayed‐return material economies with reduced residential mobility, a broader spectrum of resources, degrees of storage, and greater social stratification. Here we detail hypotheses about the processes involved in such transitions and explore the way that anthropogenic disturbance of ecosystems, especially the use of landscape fire, could be fundamentally entangled with many broad‐spectrum revolutions associated with intensified foraging systems.     

Old Crop,New Society: Persistence and Change of Tartary Buckwheat Farming in Yunnan,China

Traditional agricultural systems are important for crop genetic resources conservation. Many scholars have addressed the problem of traditional cultivar replacement by modern varieties, but few have investigated the entire loss of traditional crops from farming systems. Our prior research suggested that tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn.) agriculture is rapidly decreasing in Yunnan China, the center of the crop’s origin and an important repository of on-farm genetic diversity. Using interdisciplinary methodology to determine whether the crop is indeed in decline and evaluate reasons behind planting trends, we found a combination of interacting agroecological, socio-cultural, and institutional factors influence tartary buckwheat planting in Yunnan. Farmer ethnicity, presence of a commercial market for the crop, and government agricultural policy were particularly important. Low commercial value of the crop compared to other alternatives, reduction of available farmland, and labor shortages were major reasons cited for crop abandonment. Despite an overall reduction in tartary buckwheat planting across a wide spectrum of farms, we also found the crop retains subsistence, rotational and cultural value for many Yunnan farmers. We conclude that although Yunnan farms are increasingly managed commercially rather than for subsistence, tartary buckwheat will continue to occupy a niche in the agricultural landscape.     

Non‐edible oil seed producing Calophyllum inophyllum ideal for India's future biofuel development

The impending climate change crisis has stimulated enormous interest in the development of biofuel globally. The supporters of biofuel hail that it is naturally carbon‐neutral whereas the critiques argue that the large‐scale plantations and production of biofuel based on Jatropha can not only strain agricultural resources but also threaten future food security. India's subsistence farmers are often faced with challenges and constraints of poverty. Foremost among the challenges are the marginal environmental conditions for agriculture often influenced by erratic rainfall, drought, poor soil quality, and unreliable irrigation water supply. In this article, we have presented a case study on the potential to use nonedible seeds from naturally occurring tree species, Calophyllum inophyllum to meet the increasing demand for biofuel production in India.     

Promoting Wellness in Alaskan Villages: Integrating Traditional Knowledge and Science of Wild Berries

People draw upon multiple forms of environmental knowledge, from scientific to highly contextual local or traditional forms of knowledge, to interpret problems and gauge risks in complex socio-ecological systems. In collaboration with three remote Alaska Native communities, and using an interdisciplinary, participatory, and mixed methods research approach, we explored traditional ecological knowledge and scientific aspects of wild berries and the broader context of community health and environmental change. Combining site visits, key informant interviews, focus groups, survey questionnaires, portable field bioassays, and laboratory follow-up analyses, our research revealed the importance of local subsistence resources for community wellness. Multiple berry species were found to have powerful bioactive health properties for ameliorating metabolic syndrome as well as importance for community wellness. Communities differed in the degree to which they characterized berries as healthy foods and perceived environmental risks including climate change. Findings suggest the importance of incorporating locally available foods and socio-cultural traditions into community wellness programming. This article also discusses challenges and opportunities associated with transdisciplinary, participatory research with indigenous communities.     

Mapuche perceptions and conservation of Andean <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nothofagus</Emphasis> forests and their medicinal plants: a case study from a rural community in Patagonia,Argentina

In a Mapuche community situated in the sub-antarctic forest of the northwest of Argentine Patagonia, analysis was carried out on forest environmental perception and its relation to the resilience of the body of traditional botanical knowledge regarding medicinal plants. Data was obtained on the ethno-classification and differential use of the forest gathering environment with respect to its practical and cultural value. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 30 randomly chosen inhabitants, and the data were analysed using qualitative methods and non-parametric statistics. Most citations (64.5%) were of species gathered in Nothofagus antarctica forest, 26.2% were of species from N. pumilio forest, and 20.3% referred to species from a mixed forest, with N. dombeyi. The forests studied have low values for similarity in terms of medicinal species richness, indicating a unique offer of therapeutic resources in each one. The use of the different forest types seems to be associated with the search for therapeutic resources for specific ailments. However, the redundancy of functions of species in each forest type can offer alternative remedies, which provides plant conservation, security and the possibility of reorganisation of their traditional medicinal knowledge. This case study showed the importance of considering folk systems and the role that this knowledge has played in plant resource management and forest protection. Different forests are used and valued differentially, not only with regard to usefulness but also in symbolic-religious terms, and together they fulfil a cushioning function, protecting holistically traditional botanical knowledge, people’s health and forests. It is of great importance, therefore, that conservation policies favouring environmental heterogeneity are implemented, and that local inhabitants participate in the development of management plans.     

Making a living in the tropical forest: Yuquí foragers in the Bolivian Amazon

Questions concerning the availability of resources in tropical rain forests have given rise to the current debate centering on whether human subsistence based solely on foraging is possible in these biomes without agricultural subsidies. This paper takes the position that changing perspectives on ecological pattern and process in tropical forests and the significant variation among tropical forests on a worldwide as well as regional scale must be taken into consideration. Human disturbance is also proposed as a cause of dependence on agriculture by modern human foragers rather than as a necessary precondition for successful exploitation of the tropical forest. These issues are discussed against the background of a case study of the Yuquí, who, until very recently, were true foragers in the Bolivian Amazon. For the Yuquí, the sustainability of their subsistence system depended on a finegrained knowledge of their environment and the freedom of movement over a large territory to access resources within it.     

Do selfing species have greater niche breadth? Support from ecological niche modeling

We explore the relationship between plant mating system (selfing or outcrossing) and niche breadth to gain new insights into processes that drive species distributions. Using a comparative approach with highly selfing versus highly outcrossing sister species, we test the extent to which: (1) species pairs have evolved significant niche divergence and less niche overlap, (2) selfers have wider niche breadths than outcrossers or vice versa, and (3) niches of selfers and outcrossers are defined by significant differences in environmental variables. We applied predictive ecological niche modeling approaches to estimate and contrast niche divergence, overlap and breadth, and to identify key environmental variables associated with each species’ niche for seven sister species with divergent mating systems. Data from 4862 geo-referenced herbarium occurrence records were compiled for 14 species in Collinsia and Tonella (Plantaginaceae) and 19 environmental variables associated with each record. We found sister species display significant niche divergence, though not as a function of divergence time, and overall, selfers have significantly wider niche breadths compared to their outcrossing sisters. Our results suggest that a selfing mating system likely contributes to the greater capacity to reach, reproduce, establish, and adapt to new habitats, which increases niche breadth of selfers.