Indigenous Land Use in the Ecuadorian Amazon: A Cross-cultural and Multilevel Analysis

Among the remaining tropical forests of lowland Latin America, many are inhabited by indigenous peoples, and the sustainability of their land uses is a point of heated debate in the conservation community. Numerous small-scale studies have documented changes in indigenous land use in individual communities in the context of expanding frontier settlements and markets, but few studies have included larger populations or multiple ethnic groups. In this paper we use data from a regional-scale survey of five indigenous populations in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon to describe their agricultural land use practices and investigate the factors that affect those practices. We find the areas cultivated by indigenous households to be small compared to those of nearby mestizo colonists, but a large proportion of indigenous cultivated area is in commercial land uses. We also construct multilevel statistical models to investigate the household and community-level factors that affect indigenous land use. The results reveal significant influences on cultivated area from contextual factors such as access to markets, oil company activities, and the land tenure regime, as well as from household characteristics such as demographic composition, participation in alternative livelihood activities, and human, social and physical capitals. Overall the results are most consistent with market integration as an underlying driver of land use change in indigenous territories of the study area.

Roads,speculators, and colonization in the Ecuadorian Amazon

In view of the generally disappointing performance of colonization projects in the Amazon basin, unusual projects merit close scrutiny because they may suggest a more effective organizational form for the colonization of humid lowlands. With this end in mind, this article examines those aspects of the Upano-Palora project in southeastern Ecuador that are attributable to the project's unusual plan of establishing settlements first and building the roads afterwards. It concludes that the “settlements first, roads second” developmental sequence reduced the costs of the project, produced an egalitarian pattern of landownership, and contributed to a pattern of land use that had potentially damaging ecological effects. These findings suggest that variations in the timing of road building have an important impact on outcomes in new land settlement schemes.     

Geographic Distribution of Isolated Indigenous Societies in Amazonia and the Efficacy of Indigenous Territories

The headwaters of the Amazon Basin harbor most of the world’s last indigenous peoples who have limited contact with encroaching colonists. Knowledge of the geographic distribution of these isolated groups is essential to assist with the development of immediate protections for vulnerable indigenous settlements. We used remote sensing to document the locations of 28 isolated villages within the four Brazilian states of Acre, Amazonas, Roraima, and Rondônia. The sites were confirmed during previous over-flights and by image evidence of thatched-roof houses; they are estimated to host over 1,700 individuals. Locational data were used to train maximum entropy models that identified landscape and anthropogenic features associated with the occurrence of isolated indigenous villages, including elevation, proximity to streams of five different orders, proximity to roads and settlements, proximity to recent deforestation, and vegetation cover type. Isolated villages were identified at mid elevations, within 20 km of the tops of watersheds and at greater distances from existing roads and trails. We further used model results, combined with boundaries of the existing indigenous territory system that is designed to protect indigenous lands, to assess the efficacy of the existing protected area network for isolated peoples. Results indicate that existing indigenous territories encompass all of the villages we identified, and 50% of the areas with high predicted probabilities of isolated village occurrence. Our results are intended to help inform policies that can mitigate against future external threats to isolated peoples.     

2.5D Morphogenesis: modeling landuse and landcover dynamics in the Ecuadorian Amazon

The Ecuadorian Amazon, lying in the headwaters of the Napo and Aguarico River valleys, is experiencing rapid change in Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) conditions and regional landscape diversity uniquely tied to the spontaneous agricultural colonization of the Oriente region of northeastern Ecuador beginning in the mid to late 1970s. Spontaneous colonization occurred on squattered lands located adjacent to oil company roads and in government development sectors composed of multiple 50 ha land parcels organized into `piano key' shaped family farms or fincas. Portions of these fincas were deforested for agricultural extensification depending upon the age of the finca and several site and situation factors. Because fincas are managed at the household level as spatially discrete, temporally independent units, land conversion at the finca-level is recognized as the chief proximate cause of deforestation within the region.Focusing on the spatial and temporal dynamics of deforestation, agricultural extensification, and plant succession at the finca-level, and urbanization at the community-level, a cell-based morphogenetic model of Land Use and Land Cover Change (LULCC) was developed as the foundation for a predictive model of regional LULCC dynamics and landscape diversity. Here, LULC characteristics are determined using a time-series of remotely sensed data (i.e., Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Multispectral Scanner (MSS)) using an experimental [semi-traditional] (hybrid unsupervised-supervised) classification scheme resulting in a time-series data set including LULC images for 1973, 1986, 1989, 1996, and 1999. Pixel histories of LULC type across the time-series were integrated into LULC trajectories and converted into seed or input data sets for LULC modeling to alternate time periods and for model validation. LULC simulations, achieved through cellular automata (CA) methodologies, were run on an annual basis to the year 2010 using 1973 as the initial conditions and the satellite time-series as the `check points' in the simulations. The model was developed using the Imagine Spatial Modeler of the ERDAS image processing software, and enhanced using the Spatial Modeler Language (SML). The model works by (a) simulating the present by extrapolating from the past using the image time-series, (b) validating the simulations via the remotely sensed time-series of past conditions and through field observations of current conditions, (c) allowing the model to iterate to the year 2010, and (d) comparing model outputs to an autoregressive time-series approach for annual conditions that are compared via paired t-tests of pattern metrics run at the landscape-level to define compositional and structural differences between successive model outputs.     

The Same,but Different: Indigenous Knowledge Retention,Erosion, and Innovation in the Brazilian Amazon

This study explores how indigenous knowledge (IK) might be retained and/or changed among contemporary indigenous peoples. Through semi-structured interviews and quantitative analyses of long-term changes in artistic knowledge among three geographically displaced Kaiabi (Kawaiwete) we found an association between language proficiency and gender with greater IK retention, and formal schooling with IK erosion. Six mechanisms of innovation in knowledge of basketry and textiles among men and women were documented. A mixed mode of collaborative learning and knowledge transmission involving diverse actors emerged from community workshops and group forums. Innovative mechanisms for cultural transmission have taken advantage of media, technology, and non-indigenous support organizations to expand weaving knowledge of basketry designs. Our results illustrate how indigenous peoples actively shape cultural transmission and change, as well as the role that public policies and academic research may play in these processes.     

Social Perceptions of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in the Ecuadorian Amazon

The Amazon basin is widely recognized for its high biological and cultural diversity, enabling the provision of many ecosystem services. This study explores social perceptions of some of the features of biodiversity and ecosystem services in a tropical forest in Sangay Parish, Ecuador. Following a survey of residents, we identified three groups whose perceptions vary in relation to socioeconomic characteristics, cultural backgrounds, lifestyles, and the benefits obtained from the Sangay forest. Mestizo professionals, with a better socioeconomic situation, identify more regulation and cultural services; Shuar farmers have a comprehensive knowledge of biodiversity features and rely on provisioning services; and Shuar gatherers consume more forest products but are the least likely to formally recognize ecosystem services. We emphasize the importance of identifying social groups within a population and understanding their particular characteristics and perspectives before developing conservation and land use planning policies.     

Contrasting palm species and use diversity in the Yucatan Peninsula and the Ecuadorian Amazon

We analyze the relationship between palm species diversity and diversity of palm use in two areas (Amazonian Ecuador; Yucatan Peninsula) of equivalent size but with contrasting characteristics in palm species diversity and morphology, and in the phylogenetic composition of palm flora. The areas also differ in their cultural and socioeconomic contexts. Palm use diversity is significantly higher in the Ecuadorian Amazon than in the Yucatan Peninsula and the lower species diversity of palms in the Yucatan Peninsula is not matched by a more intensive use of the fewer species found there. The taxonomic composition of the palm flora is a poor predictor of extent of use and morphological characteristics of palm species affect usefulness only in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The Yucatecans’ more limited reliance on forest products might explain the observed patterns. Ornamental palm use is an indicator of a general change in plant use patterns associated with tourism and macro-economic development in the Yucatan Peninsula. We find a positive relationship between ecosystem plant diversity and plant use diversity, but socioeconomic factors such as market integration strongly influence the use of local biodiversity. Palms represent a diverse and important natural resource that deserves further investigation to secure its sustainable management and conservation in the two studied sites, regardless of their degree of market integration.     

Indigenous diversity of Cassava: Generation, maintenance, use and loss among the Amuesha, Peruvian upper Amazon

For cassava (Manihot esculenta Euphorbiaceae), results from field collection, semistructured interviews, phenetic and cluster analyses, and Global Information Systems (G1S) indicate that cassava phenotypes vary with elevation and topography, but less with soils or pests and diseases. Amuesha women with a sense of tradition maintain many cassava varieties along with associated myths, songs, names and indigenous production. The shaman plays a key role in breeding new and maintaining traditional cassava germplasm, while the rest of the tribe nurtures cassava germplasm dynamics through collecting, trading, stealing, maintaining favored cassava varieties, and purging the less desirable. The future of cassava diversity is of concern to some Amuesha as production and market interests surmount more traditional attention to variety.     

Population Growth and Land Use Intensification in a Subsistence-based Indigenous Community in the Amazon

Shifting cultivation practiced by indigenous peoples living at low population densities in tropical forests has often been described as sustainable and compatible with conservation. However, shifting cultivation at increasing population densities has historically been, and still is, a main cause of deforestation worldwide. As many indigenous peoples in tropical forests currently experience rapid demographic growth, this raises the question to what extent their agricultural activities actually contribute to deforestation. This paper examines land use change in an indigenous community in the Ecuadorian Amazon which is only loosely connected to the market economy, and where agriculture is almost exclusively subsistence oriented. During the last seven decades, people have increasingly begun to clear fallows instead of old-growth forest to farm. Although the population was growing at an estimated 1.6% per year, the expansion of the area of land used for agriculture was only 0.4% per year, corresponding to an annual deforestation rate of only 0.015%. Whereas these changes may seem negligible in terms of deforestation, they do cause hardships to the local people, because of increasing walking distance to old-growth forest, and problems with weeds, pests, and decreasing soil productivity when farming after reclearing fallows.     

Association between Human Papillomavirus and Human T-Lymphotropic Virus in Indigenous Women from the Peruvian Amazon

Background

No association between the Human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV), an oncogenic virus that alters host immunity, and the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) has previously been reported. Examining the association between these two viruses may permit the identification of a population at increased risk for developing cervical cancer.

Methods and Findings

Between July 2010 and February 2011, we conducted a cross-sectional study among indigenous Amazonian Peruvian women from the Shipibo-Konibo ethnic group, a group with endemic HTLV infection. We recruited women between 15 and 39 years of age who were living in the cities of Lima and Ucayali. Our objectives were to determine the association between HTLV and: (i) HPV infection of any type, and (ii) high-risk HPV type infection. Sexually active Shipibo-Konibo women were screened for HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 infections. All HTLV-1 or -2 positive women, along with two community-matched HTLV negative sexually active Shipibo-Konibo controls were later tested for the presence of HPV DNA, conventional cytology, and HIV. We screened 1,253 Shipibo-Konibo women, observing a prevalence of 5.9% (n = 74) for HTLV-1 and 3.8% (n = 47) for HTLV-2 infections. We enrolled 62 (60.8%) HTLV-1 positive women, 40 (39.2%) HTLV-2 positive women, and 205 community-matched HTLV negative controls. HTLV-1 infection was strongly associated with HPV infection of any type (43.6% vs. 29.3%; Prevalence Ratio (PR): 2.10, 95% CI: 1.53–2.87), and with high-risk HPV infection (32.3% vs. 22.4%; PR: 1.93, 95% CI: 1.04–3.59). HTLV-2 was not significantly associated with either of these HPV infections.

Conclusions

HTLV-1 infection was associated with HPV infection of any type and with high-risk HPV infection. Future longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate the incidence of high-risk HPV infection as well as the incidence of cervical neoplasia among HTLV-1 positive women.     

Transmission of Environmental Knowledge and Land Skills among Inuit Men in Ulukhaktok,Northwest Territories,Canada

The transmission of environmental knowledge and land skills was studied among Inuit men in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada. A list of 83 skills important for safe and successful harvesting was generated with 14 active hunters and elders, and examined with a sample of 47 men. This research found that land skills continue to be transmitted most often from older to younger generations through observation and apprenticeship in the environment. However there is a difference in the rate of skills transmission among generations, with average transmission rates lowest among younger respondents. Some skills were transmitted well among younger respondents including general hunting and camp-related skills, but others such as traveling on the sea ice and traditional navigation skills were not. Loss of certain skills and incomplete transmission of others were related to the absence of skills teachers, loss of native language, and changes in the educational environment.     

Spatial Heterogeneity in the Shrub Tundra Ecotone in the Mackenzie Delta Region, Northwest Territories: Implications for Arctic Environmental Change

Growing evidence suggests that plant communities in the Low Arctic are responding to recent increases in air temperature. Changes to vegetation, particularly shifts in the abundance of upright shrubs, can influence surface energy balance (albedo), sensible and latent heat flux (evapotranspiration), snow conditions, and the ground thermal regime. Understanding fine-scale variability in vegetation across the shrub tundra ecotone is therefore essential as a monitoring baseline. In this article, we use object-based classifications of airphotos to examine changes in vegetation characteristics (cover and patch size) across a latitudinal gradient in the Mackenzie Delta uplands. This area is frequently mapped as homogenous vegetation, but it exhibits fine-scale variability in cover and patch size. Our results show that the total area and size of individual patches of shrub tundra decrease with increasing latitude. The gradual nature of this transition and its correlation with latitudinal variation in temperature suggests that the position of the shrub ecotone will be sensitive to continued warming. The impacts of vegetation structure on ecological processes make improved understanding of this heterogeneity critical to biophysical models of Low Arctic ecosystems.     

Re-Occupancy of Breeding Territories by Ferruginous Hawks in Wyoming: Relationships to Environmental and Anthropogenic Factors

Grassland and shrubland birds are declining globally due in part to anthropogenic habitat modification. Because population performance of these species is also influenced by non-anthropogenic factors, it is important to incorporate all relevant ecological drivers into demographic models. We used design-based sampling and occupancy models to test relationships of environmental factors that influence raptor demographics with re-occupancy of breeding territories by ferruginous hawks (Buteo regalis) across Wyoming, USA, 2011–2013. We also tested correlations of territory re-occupancy with oil and gas infrastructure—a leading cause of habitat modification throughout the range of this species of conservation concern. Probability of re-occupancy was not related to any covariates we investigated in 2011, had a strong negative relationship with cover of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) in 2012, was slightly higher for territories with artificial platforms than other nest substrates in 2013, and had a positive relationship with abundance of ground squirrels (Urocitellus spp.) that was strong in 2012 and weak in 2013. Associations with roads were weak and varied by year, road-type, and scale: in 2012, re-occupancy probability had a weak positive correlation with density of roads not associated with oil and gas fields at the territory-scale; however, in 2013 re-occupancy had a very weak negative correlation with density of oil and gas field roads near nest sites (≤500 m). Although our results indicate re-occupancy of breeding territories by ferruginous hawks was compatible with densities of anthropogenic infrastructure in our study area, the lack of relationships between oil and gas well density and territory re-occupancy may have occurred because pre-treatment data were unavailable. We used probabilistic sampling at a broad spatial extent, methods to account for imperfect detection, and conducted extensive prey sampling; nonetheless, future research using before-after-control-impact designs is needed to fully assess impacts of oil and gas development on ferruginous hawks.