TY - ECHAP KW - biodiversity KW - ecology KW - forestry KW - Central America KW - South America AU - William L. Balée AU - Harold K. Steen AU - Richard P. Tucker AB - The rich biodiversity of Central and South American forests are undergoing difficult times. These forests have been altered throughout history, first by indigenous farming practices and now by state and private sustainable agriculture programs. Swidden type agriculture, practiced by indigenous people, converted many forests to fallows. Fallows and high forests can be compared using the Jaccard coefficient, which is simply the total number of species in a sample area. These numbers tell us that fallow forests represent indigenous reforestation, insofar as species richness of high forests are being replaced by an equivalently rich secondary forest. The number of most important species between fallow and high forests are significantly and predictably different. The indigenous farming practices are undoubtly less destructive than state practices. If modern states cannot protect the remaining indigenous populations, they may lose an abundance of knowledge relating to resource use, management, and biological and ecological diversification. (author) AN - 93-03175 BT - Changing Tropical Forests: Historical Perspectives on Today's Challenges in Central and South America: Proceedings of a Conference Sponsored by the Forest History Society and IUFRO Forestry History Group, Conference held in San José, Costa Rica CN - SD153.C43 1992 CY - Durham, NC DA - 01/1992 DB - Pennsylvania State University Libraries LA - English N2 - The rich biodiversity of Central and South American forests are undergoing difficult times. These forests have been altered throughout history, first by indigenous farming practices and now by state and private sustainable agriculture programs. Swidden type agriculture, practiced by indigenous people, converted many forests to fallows. Fallows and high forests can be compared using the Jaccard coefficient, which is simply the total number of species in a sample area. These numbers tell us that fallow forests represent indigenous reforestation, insofar as species richness of high forests are being replaced by an equivalently rich secondary forest. The number of most important species between fallow and high forests are significantly and predictably different. The indigenous farming practices are undoubtly less destructive than state practices. If modern states cannot protect the remaining indigenous populations, they may lose an abundance of knowledge relating to resource use, management, and biological and ecological diversification. (author) PB - Forest History Society PP - Durham, NC PY - 1992 RN -

Additional publisher listed as Duke University Press

SN - 0-8223-1247-6 SP - 185 EP - 197 ST - Changing Tropical Forests T2 - Changing Tropical Forests: Historical Perspectives on Today's Challenges in Central and South America: Proceedings of a Conference Sponsored by the Forest History Society and IUFRO Forestry History Group, Conference held in San José, Costa Rica TI - Indigenous history and Amazonian biodiversity UR - http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/25787422 ER -