Past Fire and Vegetation Change in the Hyperdiverse Forests of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

ABSTRACT: 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 amou

SUBMITTER: Heijink BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11313904 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature