Doctoral Dissertation Research: Reconstructing Amazonian Ecological History: How Humans and Natural Events Influence the Vegetation Structure in the Peruvian Amazon Floodplain

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Recent research in landscape ecology and human geography has identified the history of land use, natural disturbance, and persistent environmental conditions as the three primary determinants of vegetation structure in the landscape. In temperate and tropical forests, past land use appears to determine contemporary vegetation more effectively than do environmental factors. These research results need to be tested in highly dynamic regions, yet no study has focused on the persistence of the effects of land-use history in areas where exposure to frequent disturbance might amplify or minimize human impacts. To begin this avenue of investigation, this doctoral dissertation project will reconstruct and analyze the impact of human land use and river history in the seasonally flooded Muyuy-Panguana region of the Peruvian Amazon, where the periodic disturbance conditions imposed by river erosion and deposition interact with land uses. Because the study site has experienced a variety of land-use histories linked to economic booms based on agricultural and extractive products from the 1940s to the 1980s and has been physically transformed by the floods and meanders of the Amazon, it consists of a patchwork of landscapes representing an ideal laboratory for such studies. This project seeks to (1) document the history of land-use and land-cover change using historical records, oral histories, satellite images and air photographs, (2) sample contemporary vegetation through floristic surveys of the site, and (3) reconstruct the history of river dynamic through archival records and remote sensing images. These methods will be used to explain the relationship between Muyuy-Panguana's history and its present vegetation cover. Exploiting recent developments in geographically indexed databases and multivariate analysis techniques, the project's integrated analysis of qualitative and quantitative data should determine a causal relationship between present forest structure and the histories of the landscape. The project will test models for conservation and landscape ecology in many regions exposed to natural disturbance and changing land use, including the Amazon floodplain. The anticipated results will have several broad impacts. First, the remote sensing analysis needed for this research will produce maps and geographic databases useful for further scientific research and conservation planning in the Amazon region. Second, understanding the combined effects of human and natural disturbance will address the resilience of tropical environments. Finally, by integrating the intellectual perspectives and participation of rural community members, the project will fulfill a social role in Muyuy-Panguana and better inform local and international policy makers about strategies for conservation and management of the Amazon forest. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.