RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A “Dirty” Footprint: Anthropogenic Soils Promote Biodiversity in Amazonian Rainforests
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 552364
DO 10.1101/552364
A1 Wilian C. Demetrio
A1 Ana C. Conrado
A1 Agno N.S. Acioli
A1 Alexandre Casadei Ferreira
A1 Marie L.C. Bartz
A1 Samuel W. James
A1 Elodie da Silva
A1 Lilianne S. Maia
A1 Gilvan C. Martins
A1 Rodrigo S. Macedo
A1 David W.G. Stanton
A1 Patrick Lavelle
A1 Elena Velasquez
A1 Anne Zangerlé
A1 Rafaella Barbosa
A1 Sandra Celia Tapia-Coral
A1 Aleksander W. Muniz
A1 Alessandra Santos
A1 Talita Ferreira
A1 Rodrigo F. Segalla
A1 Thibaud Decaëns
A1 Herlon S. Nadolny
A1 Clara P. Peña-Venegas
A1 Cláudia M.B.F. Maia
A1 Amarildo Pasini
A1 André F. Mota
A1 Paulo S. Taube Júnior
A1 Telma A.C. Silva
A1 Lilian Rebellato
A1 Raimundo C. de Oliveira Júnior
A1 Eduardo G. Neves
A1 Helena P. Lima
A1 Rodrigo M. Feitosa
A1 Pablo Vidal Torrado
A1 Doyle McKey
A1 Charles R. Clement
A1 Myrtle P. Shock
A1 Wenceslau G. Teixeira
A1 Antônio Carlos V. Motta
A1 Vander F. Melo
A1 Jefferson Dieckow
A1 Marilice C. Garrastazu
A1 Leda S. Chubatsu
A1 TPI Network
A1 Peter Kille
A1 George G. Brown
A1 Luís Cunha
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/03/07/552364.abstract
AB Amazonian rainforests once thought to hold an innate pristine wilderness, are increasingly known to have been densely inhabited by populations showing a diverse and complex cultural background prior to European arrival. To what extent these societies impacted their landscape is unclear. Amazonian Dark Earths (ADEs) are fertile soils found throughout the Amazon Basin, created by pre-Columbian societies as a result of more sedentary habits. Much is known of the chemistry of these soils, yet their zoology, have been neglected. Hence, we characterised soil macroinvertebrate communities and activity in these soils at nine archaeological sites in three Amazonian regions. We found 667 morphospecies and a tenacious pre-Columbian footprint, with 43% of species found exclusively in ADEs. The soil biological activity is higher in the ADEs when compared to adjacent reference soils, and it is associated with higher biomass and richness of organisms known to engineer the ecosystem. We show that these habits have a unique pool of species, however, the contemporary land-use in ADEs drives nutrient decay and threats biodiversity. These findings support the idea that Humans have built and sustained a contrasting high fertile system that persisted until our days and irreversibly altered the biodiversity patterns in Amazonia.