Toby Gardner
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265536
- eISBN:
- 9780191760327
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265536.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
The Amazon is a major biome for helping to stabilize the water and temperature of its region and possibly even the whole planet. But increasingly it is subject to droughts leading to the possibility ...
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The Amazon is a major biome for helping to stabilize the water and temperature of its region and possibly even the whole planet. But increasingly it is subject to droughts leading to the possibility of a runaway drying into a far less diverse forest and even an emergent savannah. In essence this is a highly complex socio-ecological biome which is experiencing global interconnections over carbon emissions and food price spikes. All of this makes predictions of the tipping points for the Amazon extremely difficult to model or to manage. Turning these disturbance factors around requires regional and local scale commitment involving all communities and real incentives to conserve ecosystem services with appropriate safeguards and payments. This is a tall order as at the level of land use and forest conservation, the incentives are perverse.Less
The Amazon is a major biome for helping to stabilize the water and temperature of its region and possibly even the whole planet. But increasingly it is subject to droughts leading to the possibility of a runaway drying into a far less diverse forest and even an emergent savannah. In essence this is a highly complex socio-ecological biome which is experiencing global interconnections over carbon emissions and food price spikes. All of this makes predictions of the tipping points for the Amazon extremely difficult to model or to manage. Turning these disturbance factors around requires regional and local scale commitment involving all communities and real incentives to conserve ecosystem services with appropriate safeguards and payments. This is a tall order as at the level of land use and forest conservation, the incentives are perverse.
James Ladyman, Don Ross, and and David Spurrett with John Collier
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199276196
- eISBN:
- 9780191706127
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199276196.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
This book argues that the only kind of metaphysics that can contribute to objective knowledge is one based specifically on contemporary science as it really is, and not on philosophers' a priori ...
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This book argues that the only kind of metaphysics that can contribute to objective knowledge is one based specifically on contemporary science as it really is, and not on philosophers' a priori intuitions, common sense, or simplifications of science. In addition to showing how recent metaphysics has drifted away from connection with all other serious scholarly inquiry as a result of not heeding this restriction, this book demonstrates how to build a metaphysics compatible with current fundamental physics (“ontic structural realism”), which, when combined with metaphysics of the special sciences (“rainforest realism”), can be used to unify physics with the other sciences without reducing these sciences to physics itself. Taking science metaphysically seriously, this book argues, means that metaphysicians must abandon the picture of the world as composed of self-subsistent individual objects, and the paradigm of causation as the collision of such objects. The text assesses the role of information theory and complex systems theory in attempts to explain the relationship between the special sciences and physics, treading a middle road between the grand synthesis of thermodynamics and information, and eliminativism about information. The consequences of the books' metaphysical theory for central issues in the philosophy of science are explored, including the implications for the realism versus empiricism debate, the role of causation in scientific explanations, the nature of causation and laws, the status of abstract and virtual objects, and the objective reality of natural kinds.Less
This book argues that the only kind of metaphysics that can contribute to objective knowledge is one based specifically on contemporary science as it really is, and not on philosophers' a priori intuitions, common sense, or simplifications of science. In addition to showing how recent metaphysics has drifted away from connection with all other serious scholarly inquiry as a result of not heeding this restriction, this book demonstrates how to build a metaphysics compatible with current fundamental physics (“ontic structural realism”), which, when combined with metaphysics of the special sciences (“rainforest realism”), can be used to unify physics with the other sciences without reducing these sciences to physics itself. Taking science metaphysically seriously, this book argues, means that metaphysicians must abandon the picture of the world as composed of self-subsistent individual objects, and the paradigm of causation as the collision of such objects. The text assesses the role of information theory and complex systems theory in attempts to explain the relationship between the special sciences and physics, treading a middle road between the grand synthesis of thermodynamics and information, and eliminativism about information. The consequences of the books' metaphysical theory for central issues in the philosophy of science are explored, including the implications for the realism versus empiricism debate, the role of causation in scientific explanations, the nature of causation and laws, the status of abstract and virtual objects, and the objective reality of natural kinds.
James Ladyman, Don Ross, David Spurrett, and John Collier
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199276196
- eISBN:
- 9780191706127
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199276196.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
This chapter consolidates the constraints on metaphysics as a unification of science by requiring that a metaphysical hypothesis respect the constraint of the principle of naturalistic closure (PNC). ...
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This chapter consolidates the constraints on metaphysics as a unification of science by requiring that a metaphysical hypothesis respect the constraint of the principle of naturalistic closure (PNC). Floridi criticizes what he calls the “eliminativist” interpretation of OSR, the view that self-subsistent individuals do not exist, on the grounds that it lets the tail of the quantum-theoretic problems over entanglement wag the dog of our general world-view. However, the Primacy of Physics Constraint (PPC), according to which failure of an interpretation of special-science generalizations to respect negative implications of physical theory is grounds for rejecting such generalizations, is endorsed in this chapter. Thus, Floridi's modus tollens may be considered a modus ponens: if the best current interpretation of fundamental physics says there are no self-subsistent individuals, then special sciences had better admit, for the sake of unification, of an ontological interpretation that is compatible with a non-atomistic metaphysics. The PNC is invoked again independently.Less
This chapter consolidates the constraints on metaphysics as a unification of science by requiring that a metaphysical hypothesis respect the constraint of the principle of naturalistic closure (PNC). Floridi criticizes what he calls the “eliminativist” interpretation of OSR, the view that self-subsistent individuals do not exist, on the grounds that it lets the tail of the quantum-theoretic problems over entanglement wag the dog of our general world-view. However, the Primacy of Physics Constraint (PPC), according to which failure of an interpretation of special-science generalizations to respect negative implications of physical theory is grounds for rejecting such generalizations, is endorsed in this chapter. Thus, Floridi's modus tollens may be considered a modus ponens: if the best current interpretation of fundamental physics says there are no self-subsistent individuals, then special sciences had better admit, for the sake of unification, of an ontological interpretation that is compatible with a non-atomistic metaphysics. The PNC is invoked again independently.
Oliver L. Phillips, Timothy R. Baker, Luzmila Arroyo, Niro Higuchi, Timothy Killeen, William F. Laurance, Simon L. Lewis, Jon Lloyd, Yadvinder Malhi, Abel Monteagudo, David A. Neill, Percy Nuñez Vargas, J. Natalino N. Silva, Rodolfo Vásquez Martinez, Miguel Alexiades, Samuel Almeida, Sandra Brown, Jerome Chave, James A. Comiskey, Claudia I. Czimczik, Anthony Di Fiore, Terry Erwin, Caroline Kuebler, Susan G. Laurance, Henrique E. M. Nascimento, Jean Olivier, Walter Palacios, Sandra Patiño, Nigel Pitman, Carlos A. Quesada, Mario Saldias, Armando Torres Lezama, and Barbara Vinceti
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567066
- eISBN:
- 9780191717888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567066.003.0010
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
Previous work found that tree turnover, biomass, and large liana densities increased in mature tropical forests in the late 20th century, indicating a concerted shift in forest ecological processes. ...
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Previous work found that tree turnover, biomass, and large liana densities increased in mature tropical forests in the late 20th century, indicating a concerted shift in forest ecological processes. However, the findings have proved controversial. Here, regional-scale patterns of tree turnover are characterized, using improved datasets available for Amazonia that span the last twenty-five years. The main findings include: trees at least 10 cm in diameter recruit and die twice as fast on the richer soils of western Amazonia compared to trees on the poorer soils of eastern Amazonia; turnover rates have increased throughout Amazonia over the last two decades; mortality and recruitment rates have tended to increase in every region and environmental zone; recruitment rates consistently exceed mortality rates; and increases in recruitment and mortality rates are greatest in western Amazonia. These patterns and trends are not caused by obvious artefacts in the data or the analyses, and cannot be directly driven by a mortality driver such as increased drought because the biomass in these forests has simultaneously increased. Apparently, therefore, widespread environmental changes are stimulating the growth and productivity of Amazon forests.Less
Previous work found that tree turnover, biomass, and large liana densities increased in mature tropical forests in the late 20th century, indicating a concerted shift in forest ecological processes. However, the findings have proved controversial. Here, regional-scale patterns of tree turnover are characterized, using improved datasets available for Amazonia that span the last twenty-five years. The main findings include: trees at least 10 cm in diameter recruit and die twice as fast on the richer soils of western Amazonia compared to trees on the poorer soils of eastern Amazonia; turnover rates have increased throughout Amazonia over the last two decades; mortality and recruitment rates have tended to increase in every region and environmental zone; recruitment rates consistently exceed mortality rates; and increases in recruitment and mortality rates are greatest in western Amazonia. These patterns and trends are not caused by obvious artefacts in the data or the analyses, and cannot be directly driven by a mortality driver such as increased drought because the biomass in these forests has simultaneously increased. Apparently, therefore, widespread environmental changes are stimulating the growth and productivity of Amazon forests.
Timothy R. Baker, Oliver L. Phillips, Yadvinder Malhi, Samuel Almeida, Luzmila Arroyo, Anthony Di Fiore, Terry Erwin, Niro Higuchi, Timothy J. Killeen, Susan G. Laurance, William F. Laurance, Simon L. Lewis, Abel Monteagudo, David A. Neill, Percy Núnez Vargas, Nigel C. A. Pitman, J. Natalino M. Silva, and Rodolfo Vásquez Martínez
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567066
- eISBN:
- 9780191717888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567066.003.0011
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
This chapter discusses a previous study by Phillips et al. (1998) on biomass changes in Amazonian permanent sample plots which has been used to infer the presence of a regional carbon sink, ...
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This chapter discusses a previous study by Phillips et al. (1998) on biomass changes in Amazonian permanent sample plots which has been used to infer the presence of a regional carbon sink, generating vigorous debate about sampling and methodological issues. A new analysis of biomass change in old-growth Amazonian forest plots is presented here using new inventory data. It has been found that across fifty-nine sites, the above-ground dry biomass in trees of more than 10 cm in diameter has increased since plot establishment by about 1.22 Mg per hectare per year, or about 0.98 Mg per hectare per year if individual plot values are weighted by the number of hectare years of monitoring. This significant increase is not confounded by spatial or temporal variation in wood specific gravity, nor does it depend on the allometric equation used to estimate biomass. Overall, these results suggest a slightly greater rate of net stand-level change than reported in 1998, and indicate the presence of a significant regional-scale carbon sink in old-growth Amazonian forests during the past two decades.Less
This chapter discusses a previous study by Phillips et al. (1998) on biomass changes in Amazonian permanent sample plots which has been used to infer the presence of a regional carbon sink, generating vigorous debate about sampling and methodological issues. A new analysis of biomass change in old-growth Amazonian forest plots is presented here using new inventory data. It has been found that across fifty-nine sites, the above-ground dry biomass in trees of more than 10 cm in diameter has increased since plot establishment by about 1.22 Mg per hectare per year, or about 0.98 Mg per hectare per year if individual plot values are weighted by the number of hectare years of monitoring. This significant increase is not confounded by spatial or temporal variation in wood specific gravity, nor does it depend on the allometric equation used to estimate biomass. Overall, these results suggest a slightly greater rate of net stand-level change than reported in 1998, and indicate the presence of a significant regional-scale carbon sink in old-growth Amazonian forests during the past two decades.
Mark Maslin
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567066
- eISBN:
- 9780191717888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567066.003.0014
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
This chapter highlights and explains the impressive story of the persistence of the Amazonian rainforest throughout the Cenozoic. Palaeoclimate and palaeoecological records suggest that the Amazon ...
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This chapter highlights and explains the impressive story of the persistence of the Amazonian rainforest throughout the Cenozoic. Palaeoclimate and palaeoecological records suggest that the Amazon rainforest originated in the late Cretaceous and has been a permanent feature of South America for at least the last 55 million years. During the late Palaocene the ‘rainforest’ or ‘megathermal moist forest’ (MTMF) may have stretched as far south as 45°S in South America. The main climatic feature of the last 55 million years has been global cooling and the general constriction of the megathermal moist forests to the tropics. However, the Amazon rainforest has survived the high temperatures of the early Eocene climate optimum and the aridity and low carbon dioxide levels of the Quaternary glacial periods. The Amazon rainforest should, therefore, not be viewed as a geologically ephemeral feature of South America, but rather as a constant feature of the global Cenozoic biosphere. The forest is now, however, entering a set of climatic conditions with no past analogue.Less
This chapter highlights and explains the impressive story of the persistence of the Amazonian rainforest throughout the Cenozoic. Palaeoclimate and palaeoecological records suggest that the Amazon rainforest originated in the late Cretaceous and has been a permanent feature of South America for at least the last 55 million years. During the late Palaocene the ‘rainforest’ or ‘megathermal moist forest’ (MTMF) may have stretched as far south as 45°S in South America. The main climatic feature of the last 55 million years has been global cooling and the general constriction of the megathermal moist forests to the tropics. However, the Amazon rainforest has survived the high temperatures of the early Eocene climate optimum and the aridity and low carbon dioxide levels of the Quaternary glacial periods. The Amazon rainforest should, therefore, not be viewed as a geologically ephemeral feature of South America, but rather as a constant feature of the global Cenozoic biosphere. The forest is now, however, entering a set of climatic conditions with no past analogue.
Francis E. Mayle and Mark B. Bush
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567066
- eISBN:
- 9780191717888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567066.003.0015
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
This chapter reviews previously published palaeovegetation and independent palaeoclimatic datasets to determine the responses of Amazonian ecosystems to changes in temperature, precipitation, and ...
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This chapter reviews previously published palaeovegetation and independent palaeoclimatic datasets to determine the responses of Amazonian ecosystems to changes in temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations that occurred since the last glacial maximum (LGM), about 21,000 years ago, and it uses this long-term perspective to predict the likely vegetation responses to future climate change. Amazonia remained predominantly forested at the LGM, although savannas expanded at the margins of the basin. The combination of reduced temperatures, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations resulted in forests structurally and floristically quite different from those of today. Evergreen rainforest distribution increased during the glacial-Holocene transition due to ameliorating climatic and CO2 conditions. However, reduced precipitation in the early-mid Holocene (about 8000-3600 years ago) period caused widespread, frequent fires in seasonal southern Amazonia, with increased abundance of drought-tolerant dry forest taxa and savanna in ecotonal areas. Rainforests expanded once again in the late Holocene period as a result of increased precipitation. The plant communities that existed during the early-mid Holocene period may constitute the closest analogues to the kinds of vegetation responses expected from similar increases in temperature and aridity posited for the 21st century.Less
This chapter reviews previously published palaeovegetation and independent palaeoclimatic datasets to determine the responses of Amazonian ecosystems to changes in temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations that occurred since the last glacial maximum (LGM), about 21,000 years ago, and it uses this long-term perspective to predict the likely vegetation responses to future climate change. Amazonia remained predominantly forested at the LGM, although savannas expanded at the margins of the basin. The combination of reduced temperatures, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations resulted in forests structurally and floristically quite different from those of today. Evergreen rainforest distribution increased during the glacial-Holocene transition due to ameliorating climatic and CO2 conditions. However, reduced precipitation in the early-mid Holocene (about 8000-3600 years ago) period caused widespread, frequent fires in seasonal southern Amazonia, with increased abundance of drought-tolerant dry forest taxa and savanna in ecotonal areas. Rainforests expanded once again in the late Holocene period as a result of increased precipitation. The plant communities that existed during the early-mid Holocene period may constitute the closest analogues to the kinds of vegetation responses expected from similar increases in temperature and aridity posited for the 21st century.
Yadvinder Malhi and James Wright
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567066
- eISBN:
- 9780191717888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567066.003.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
This chapter presents an analysis of the mean climate and climatic trends of tropical rainforest regions over the period 1960-98, with the aid of climatological databases. Since the mid-1970s all ...
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This chapter presents an analysis of the mean climate and climatic trends of tropical rainforest regions over the period 1960-98, with the aid of climatological databases. Since the mid-1970s all tropical rainforest regions have experienced a warming, in synchrony with a global rise in temperature that has been attributed to the anthropogenic greenhouse effect. Over the study period precipitation appears to have declined sharply in northern tropical Africa, declined marginally in tropical Asia, and showed no significant trend in Amazonia. There is no evidence to date of a decline in precipitation in eastern Amazonia, a region thought vulnerable to climate-change induced drying. The strong drying trend in Africa suggests that this should be a priority study region for understanding the impact of drought on tropical rainforests. Only African and Indian tropical rainforests appear to have seen a significant increase in dry season intensity. The El Niñno-Southern Oscillation is the primary driver of interannual temperature variations across the tropics, and of precipitation fluctuations for large areas of the Americas and Southeast Asia.Less
This chapter presents an analysis of the mean climate and climatic trends of tropical rainforest regions over the period 1960-98, with the aid of climatological databases. Since the mid-1970s all tropical rainforest regions have experienced a warming, in synchrony with a global rise in temperature that has been attributed to the anthropogenic greenhouse effect. Over the study period precipitation appears to have declined sharply in northern tropical Africa, declined marginally in tropical Asia, and showed no significant trend in Amazonia. There is no evidence to date of a decline in precipitation in eastern Amazonia, a region thought vulnerable to climate-change induced drying. The strong drying trend in Africa suggests that this should be a priority study region for understanding the impact of drought on tropical rainforests. Only African and Indian tropical rainforests appear to have seen a significant increase in dry season intensity. The El Niñno-Southern Oscillation is the primary driver of interannual temperature variations across the tropics, and of precipitation fluctuations for large areas of the Americas and Southeast Asia.
Wolfgang Cramer, Alberte Bondeau, Sibyll Schaphoff, Wolfgang Lucht, Ben Smith, and Stephen Sitch
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567066
- eISBN:
- 9780191717888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567066.003.0002
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
This chapter quantifies the relative roles of carbon dioxide (CO2), temperature, rainfall, and deforestation on the future extent and condition of tropical rainforests, and examines the magnitude of ...
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This chapter quantifies the relative roles of carbon dioxide (CO2), temperature, rainfall, and deforestation on the future extent and condition of tropical rainforests, and examines the magnitude of their feedbacks on atmospheric CO2 concentrations. A dynamic global vegetation model is applied using multiple scenarios of tropical deforestation (extrapolated from two estimates of current rates) and multiple scenarios of changing climate (derived from four independent off-line general circulation model simulations). Results show that deforestation is likely to produce large losses of carbon, despite the uncertainty concerning exact deforestation rates. Estimates of additional carbon emissions during the 21st century, for all climate and deforestation scenarios, range from 101 to 367 Gt C, resulting in CO2 concentration increases above background values by between 29 and 129 ppm. Notwithstanding this range of uncertainty, continued tropical deforestation will most certainly play a very large role in the build-up of future greenhouse gas concentrations.Less
This chapter quantifies the relative roles of carbon dioxide (CO2), temperature, rainfall, and deforestation on the future extent and condition of tropical rainforests, and examines the magnitude of their feedbacks on atmospheric CO2 concentrations. A dynamic global vegetation model is applied using multiple scenarios of tropical deforestation (extrapolated from two estimates of current rates) and multiple scenarios of changing climate (derived from four independent off-line general circulation model simulations). Results show that deforestation is likely to produce large losses of carbon, despite the uncertainty concerning exact deforestation rates. Estimates of additional carbon emissions during the 21st century, for all climate and deforestation scenarios, range from 101 to 367 Gt C, resulting in CO2 concentration increases above background values by between 29 and 129 ppm. Notwithstanding this range of uncertainty, continued tropical deforestation will most certainly play a very large role in the build-up of future greenhouse gas concentrations.
William F. Laurance
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567066
- eISBN:
- 9780191717888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567066.003.0003
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
In the tropics, habitat fragmentation alters forest-climate interactions in diverse ways. On a local scale (<1 km), elevated desiccation and wind disturbance near fragment margins lead to sharply ...
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In the tropics, habitat fragmentation alters forest-climate interactions in diverse ways. On a local scale (<1 km), elevated desiccation and wind disturbance near fragment margins lead to sharply increased tree mortality, altering canopy-gap dynamics, plant-community composition, biomass dynamics, and carbon storage. Fragmented forests are also highly vulnerable to edge-related fires, especially in regions which have periodic droughts or strong dry seasons. At landscape to regional scales (10-1,000 km), habitat fragmentation may have complex effects on forest-climate interactions, with important consequences for atmospheric circulation, water cycling, and precipitation. Positive feedbacks among deforestation, regional climate change, and fire could pose a serious threat for some tropical forests, but the details of such interactions are poorly understood.Less
In the tropics, habitat fragmentation alters forest-climate interactions in diverse ways. On a local scale (<1 km), elevated desiccation and wind disturbance near fragment margins lead to sharply increased tree mortality, altering canopy-gap dynamics, plant-community composition, biomass dynamics, and carbon storage. Fragmented forests are also highly vulnerable to edge-related fires, especially in regions which have periodic droughts or strong dry seasons. At landscape to regional scales (10-1,000 km), habitat fragmentation may have complex effects on forest-climate interactions, with important consequences for atmospheric circulation, water cycling, and precipitation. Positive feedbacks among deforestation, regional climate change, and fire could pose a serious threat for some tropical forests, but the details of such interactions are poorly understood.
William F. Laurance, Alexandre A. Oliveira, Susan G. Laurance, Richard Condit, Henrique E. M. Nascimento, Ana Andrade, Christopher W. Dick, Ana C. Sanchez-Thorin, Thomas E. Lovejoy, and José E. L. S. Ribeiro
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567066
- eISBN:
- 9780191717888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567066.003.0009
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
The rainforests of central Amazonia are some of the most species-rich tree communities on earth. In recent decades, forests in the central-Amazonian landscape have experienced highly non-random ...
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The rainforests of central Amazonia are some of the most species-rich tree communities on earth. In recent decades, forests in the central-Amazonian landscape have experienced highly non-random changes in dynamics and composition. These analyses are made on a network of eighteen permanent plots unaffected by any detectable disturbance. Within these plots, tree mortality, recruitment, and growth have increased over time. Of 115 relatively abundant tree genera, twenty-seven changed significantly in density or basal area — a value nearly fourteen times greater than that expected by chance. An independent, eight-year study in nearby forests corroborated these shifts in composition. Despite increasing tree mortality, pioneer trees did not increase in abundance, but genera of faster-growing trees, including many canopy and emergent species, are increasing in dominance or density, whereas genera of slower-growing trees, including many subcanopy species, are declining. Rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations may explain these changes, although the effects of this and other large-scale environmental alterations have not been fully explored. These compositional changes could have important effects on the carbon storage, dynamics, and biota of Amazonian forests.Less
The rainforests of central Amazonia are some of the most species-rich tree communities on earth. In recent decades, forests in the central-Amazonian landscape have experienced highly non-random changes in dynamics and composition. These analyses are made on a network of eighteen permanent plots unaffected by any detectable disturbance. Within these plots, tree mortality, recruitment, and growth have increased over time. Of 115 relatively abundant tree genera, twenty-seven changed significantly in density or basal area — a value nearly fourteen times greater than that expected by chance. An independent, eight-year study in nearby forests corroborated these shifts in composition. Despite increasing tree mortality, pioneer trees did not increase in abundance, but genera of faster-growing trees, including many canopy and emergent species, are increasing in dominance or density, whereas genera of slower-growing trees, including many subcanopy species, are declining. Rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations may explain these changes, although the effects of this and other large-scale environmental alterations have not been fully explored. These compositional changes could have important effects on the carbon storage, dynamics, and biota of Amazonian forests.
Ursula K. Heise
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195335637
- eISBN:
- 9780199869022
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335637.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter, building on Ch. 1, explores how a sense of globally connected places develops from innovative aesthetic techniques in two works that focus on the Amazon rainforest as an icon of ...
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This chapter, building on Ch. 1, explores how a sense of globally connected places develops from innovative aesthetic techniques in two works that focus on the Amazon rainforest as an icon of environmentalist concern. German installation artist Lothar Baumgarten’s experimental nature documentary The Origin of the Night: Amazon Cosmos presents images and sounds that ostensibly portray the Brazilian jungle, but are revealed as images of the river Rhine in Germany at the end of the film. The superimposition of the two landscapes generates a complex reflection on global interconnectedness. Japanese American novelist Karen Tei Yamashita’s novel Through the Arc of the Rainforest revolves around a mysterious substance discovered in the Brazilian jungle that becomes the point of departure for global business and media ventures and is ultimately revealed to be geologically transformed First-World trash. Yamashita’s thematic focus on a local place transformed by the global, as well as her combination of Latin American techniques derived from the work of Mário de Andrade and Gabriel García Márquez with North American postmodernist strategies, create a narrative world that links the local, national, and global realms in innovative ways. Both works aim to create an “eco-cosmopolitan” awareness of global cultural and ecological spaces.Less
This chapter, building on Ch. 1, explores how a sense of globally connected places develops from innovative aesthetic techniques in two works that focus on the Amazon rainforest as an icon of environmentalist concern. German installation artist Lothar Baumgarten’s experimental nature documentary The Origin of the Night: Amazon Cosmos presents images and sounds that ostensibly portray the Brazilian jungle, but are revealed as images of the river Rhine in Germany at the end of the film. The superimposition of the two landscapes generates a complex reflection on global interconnectedness. Japanese American novelist Karen Tei Yamashita’s novel Through the Arc of the Rainforest revolves around a mysterious substance discovered in the Brazilian jungle that becomes the point of departure for global business and media ventures and is ultimately revealed to be geologically transformed First-World trash. Yamashita’s thematic focus on a local place transformed by the global, as well as her combination of Latin American techniques derived from the work of Mário de Andrade and Gabriel García Márquez with North American postmodernist strategies, create a narrative world that links the local, national, and global realms in innovative ways. Both works aim to create an “eco-cosmopolitan” awareness of global cultural and ecological spaces.
William F. Laurance
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199554232
- eISBN:
- 9780191720666
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199554232.003.0005
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
William F. Laurance provides an overview of contemporary habitat loss in this chapter. Vast amounts of habitat destruction have already occurred. for instance, about half of all global forest cover ...
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William F. Laurance provides an overview of contemporary habitat loss in this chapter. Vast amounts of habitat destruction have already occurred. for instance, about half of all global forest cover has been lost, and forests have virtually vanished in over 50 nations worldwide. Habitat destruction has been highly uneven among different ecosystems. From a geographic perspective, islands, coastal areas, wetlands, regions with large or growing human populations, and emerging agricultural frontiers are all sustaining rapid habitat loss. From a biome perspective, habitat loss has been very high in Mediterranean forests, temperate forest‐steppe and woodland, temperate broadleaf forests, and tropical coniferous forests. Other ecosystems, particularly tropical rainforests, are now disappearing rapidly. Habitat destruction in the temperate zone peaked in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Although considerable habitat loss is occurring in some temperate ecosystems, overall forest cover is now increasing from forest regeneration and plantation establishment in some temperate regions. Primary (old‐growth) habitats are rapidly diminishing across much of the earth. In their place, a variety of semi‐natural or intensively managed ecosystems are being established. For example, although just two‐tenths of the temperate coniferous forests have disappeared, vast areas are being converted from old‐growth to timber‐production forests, with a greatly simplified stand structure and species composition. Boreal ecosystems have suffered relatively limited reductions to date but are especially vulnerable to global warming. Boreal forests could become increasingly vulnerable to destructive fires if future conditions become warmer or drier.Less
William F. Laurance provides an overview of contemporary habitat loss in this chapter. Vast amounts of habitat destruction have already occurred. for instance, about half of all global forest cover has been lost, and forests have virtually vanished in over 50 nations worldwide. Habitat destruction has been highly uneven among different ecosystems. From a geographic perspective, islands, coastal areas, wetlands, regions with large or growing human populations, and emerging agricultural frontiers are all sustaining rapid habitat loss. From a biome perspective, habitat loss has been very high in Mediterranean forests, temperate forest‐steppe and woodland, temperate broadleaf forests, and tropical coniferous forests. Other ecosystems, particularly tropical rainforests, are now disappearing rapidly. Habitat destruction in the temperate zone peaked in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Although considerable habitat loss is occurring in some temperate ecosystems, overall forest cover is now increasing from forest regeneration and plantation establishment in some temperate regions. Primary (old‐growth) habitats are rapidly diminishing across much of the earth. In their place, a variety of semi‐natural or intensively managed ecosystems are being established. For example, although just two‐tenths of the temperate coniferous forests have disappeared, vast areas are being converted from old‐growth to timber‐production forests, with a greatly simplified stand structure and species composition. Boreal ecosystems have suffered relatively limited reductions to date but are especially vulnerable to global warming. Boreal forests could become increasingly vulnerable to destructive fires if future conditions become warmer or drier.
Ian A. Bowles and Glenn T. Prickett (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195125788
- eISBN:
- 9780199832927
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195125789.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Over the past several decades, tropical rain forests have seen a tremendous growth in logging, mining, and oil and gas development. These extractive industries, as well as the infrastructure ...
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Over the past several decades, tropical rain forests have seen a tremendous growth in logging, mining, and oil and gas development. These extractive industries, as well as the infrastructure associated with them – roads, pipelines, and transmission lines – have had a significant environmental impact worldwide and often conflict with the growing concern for conservation of tropical biodiversity. Even though extractive industries are threatening the last undisturbed tropical ecosystems of the planet, developing countries in these regions rely heavily on revenue generated from resource extraction, and development of delicate ecosystems will continue in spite of its controversial nature. This book examines the technical, environmental, social, and legal issues related to the development of modern infrastructure and resource extraction in tropical forests. Through a variety of case studies, this volume examines the environmental practices of natural resource companies and biodiversity‐conservation agencies.Less
Over the past several decades, tropical rain forests have seen a tremendous growth in logging, mining, and oil and gas development. These extractive industries, as well as the infrastructure associated with them – roads, pipelines, and transmission lines – have had a significant environmental impact worldwide and often conflict with the growing concern for conservation of tropical biodiversity. Even though extractive industries are threatening the last undisturbed tropical ecosystems of the planet, developing countries in these regions rely heavily on revenue generated from resource extraction, and development of delicate ecosystems will continue in spite of its controversial nature. This book examines the technical, environmental, social, and legal issues related to the development of modern infrastructure and resource extraction in tropical forests. Through a variety of case studies, this volume examines the environmental practices of natural resource companies and biodiversity‐conservation agencies.
Robert A. Voeks
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226547718
- eISBN:
- 9780226547855
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226547855.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
In the 1980s, scientists and environmentalists sounded the alarm that deforestation was decimating the world’s tropical rainforests. Among the protection strategies that emerged, none resonated more ...
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In the 1980s, scientists and environmentalists sounded the alarm that deforestation was decimating the world’s tropical rainforests. Among the protection strategies that emerged, none resonated more with the general public than the notion that these threatened landscapes represented storehouses of drug plants for the battle against our most pernicious diseases. The resultant “jungle medicine narrative” developed around a series of assumptions regarding nature and culture in the tropical realm, some grounded in scientific theory, others the products of ancient prejudices and preconceptions. This book explores the origin and evolution of the various elements in this narrative, including the deployment of the pristine nature of tropical forested landscapes, and the romanticized forest-dweller archetype. Medicinal plants, the centerpiece of the narrative, are shown to be mostly weeds, crop plants, and other features of anthropogenic nature. The under-reported role of women as custodians of medicinal plant knowledge is investigated, as is the degree to which immigrants to the tropics have retained and developed healing pharmacopeias. The book considers the crucial question of whether local knowledge of healing plants is disappearing due to globalization before it can benefit society. Finally, the origins and impacts of environmental storytelling are investigated, in particular how the jungle medicine narrative was employed to address a pressing environmental problem—the destruction of the world’s tropical forests—and what was its ultimate outcome.Less
In the 1980s, scientists and environmentalists sounded the alarm that deforestation was decimating the world’s tropical rainforests. Among the protection strategies that emerged, none resonated more with the general public than the notion that these threatened landscapes represented storehouses of drug plants for the battle against our most pernicious diseases. The resultant “jungle medicine narrative” developed around a series of assumptions regarding nature and culture in the tropical realm, some grounded in scientific theory, others the products of ancient prejudices and preconceptions. This book explores the origin and evolution of the various elements in this narrative, including the deployment of the pristine nature of tropical forested landscapes, and the romanticized forest-dweller archetype. Medicinal plants, the centerpiece of the narrative, are shown to be mostly weeds, crop plants, and other features of anthropogenic nature. The under-reported role of women as custodians of medicinal plant knowledge is investigated, as is the degree to which immigrants to the tropics have retained and developed healing pharmacopeias. The book considers the crucial question of whether local knowledge of healing plants is disappearing due to globalization before it can benefit society. Finally, the origins and impacts of environmental storytelling are investigated, in particular how the jungle medicine narrative was employed to address a pressing environmental problem—the destruction of the world’s tropical forests—and what was its ultimate outcome.
Stephen F. Siebert
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824835361
- eISBN:
- 9780824871826
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824835361.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
Rattan is the common name for a diverse group of climbing palms found throughout Old World tropical forests. For centuries people have used them for binding, basketry, house construction, food, and ...
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Rattan is the common name for a diverse group of climbing palms found throughout Old World tropical forests. For centuries people have used them for binding, basketry, house construction, food, and numerous other non-market purposes; more recently the canes of some species have been gathered for the multi-billion-dollar furniture, handicraft, and mat-making industries. Thus rattan continues to be vital to the culture and economic well-being of millions of cane collectors, laborers, and artisans throughout tropical Asia and Africa. This book explores this valuable forest product, the tropical forests on which it depends, and the societies that flourish by using and managing these remarkable plants. The book provides a distinctive and engaging review of rattan and the people whose lives are centered on it. It examines rattan use, biology, human culture, and challenges in tropical field research and conservation through the knowledge of cane workers in three Southeast Asian forest villages. The book challenges commonly held views of “slash and burn” farming, rainforest destruction, and population increase while underscoring the myriad forces involved in individual decision-making and social and environmental change. Personal stories and experiences are integrated with scientific information in a manner that will attract nonspecialists as well as students and researchers.Less
Rattan is the common name for a diverse group of climbing palms found throughout Old World tropical forests. For centuries people have used them for binding, basketry, house construction, food, and numerous other non-market purposes; more recently the canes of some species have been gathered for the multi-billion-dollar furniture, handicraft, and mat-making industries. Thus rattan continues to be vital to the culture and economic well-being of millions of cane collectors, laborers, and artisans throughout tropical Asia and Africa. This book explores this valuable forest product, the tropical forests on which it depends, and the societies that flourish by using and managing these remarkable plants. The book provides a distinctive and engaging review of rattan and the people whose lives are centered on it. It examines rattan use, biology, human culture, and challenges in tropical field research and conservation through the knowledge of cane workers in three Southeast Asian forest villages. The book challenges commonly held views of “slash and burn” farming, rainforest destruction, and population increase while underscoring the myriad forces involved in individual decision-making and social and environmental change. Personal stories and experiences are integrated with scientific information in a manner that will attract nonspecialists as well as students and researchers.
Kristin Shrader-Frechette
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199794638
- eISBN:
- 9780199919277
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794638.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Chapter 1 begins by stressing the severity of climate change (CC) and showing how, contrary to popular belief, atomic energy is not a viable solution to ...
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Chapter 1 begins by stressing the severity of climate change (CC) and showing how, contrary to popular belief, atomic energy is not a viable solution to CC. Many scientists and most market proponents agree that renewable energy and energy efficiencies are better options. The chapter also shows that government subsidies for oil and nuclear power are the result of flawed science, poor ethics, short-term thinking, and special-interest influence. The chapter has 7 sections, the first of which surveys four major components of the energy crisis. These are oil addiction, non-CC-related deaths from fossil-fuel pollution, nuclear-weapons proliferation, and catastrophic CC. The second section summarizes some of the powerful evidence for global CC. The third section uses historical, ahistorical, Rawlsian, and utilitarian ethical principles to show how developed nations, especially the US, are most responsible for human-caused CC. The fourth section shows why climate-change skeptics, such as “deniers” who doubt CC is real, and “delayers” who say that it should not yet be addressed, have no valid objections. Instead, they all err scientifically and ethically. The fifth section illustrates that all modern scientific methods—and scientific consensus since at least 1995—confirm the reality of global CC. Essentially all expert-scientific analyses published in refereed, scientific-professional journals confirm the reality of global CC. The sixth section of the chapter shows how fossil-fuel special interests have contributed to the continued CC debate largely by paying non-experts to deny or challenge CC. The seventh section of the chapter provides an outline of each chapter in the book, noting that this book makes use of both scientific and ethical analyses to show why nuclear proponents’ arguments err, why CC deniers are wrong, and how scientific-methodological understanding can advance sound energy policy—including conservation, renewable energy, and energy efficiencies.Less
Chapter 1 begins by stressing the severity of climate change (CC) and showing how, contrary to popular belief, atomic energy is not a viable solution to CC. Many scientists and most market proponents agree that renewable energy and energy efficiencies are better options. The chapter also shows that government subsidies for oil and nuclear power are the result of flawed science, poor ethics, short-term thinking, and special-interest influence. The chapter has 7 sections, the first of which surveys four major components of the energy crisis. These are oil addiction, non-CC-related deaths from fossil-fuel pollution, nuclear-weapons proliferation, and catastrophic CC. The second section summarizes some of the powerful evidence for global CC. The third section uses historical, ahistorical, Rawlsian, and utilitarian ethical principles to show how developed nations, especially the US, are most responsible for human-caused CC. The fourth section shows why climate-change skeptics, such as “deniers” who doubt CC is real, and “delayers” who say that it should not yet be addressed, have no valid objections. Instead, they all err scientifically and ethically. The fifth section illustrates that all modern scientific methods—and scientific consensus since at least 1995—confirm the reality of global CC. Essentially all expert-scientific analyses published in refereed, scientific-professional journals confirm the reality of global CC. The sixth section of the chapter shows how fossil-fuel special interests have contributed to the continued CC debate largely by paying non-experts to deny or challenge CC. The seventh section of the chapter provides an outline of each chapter in the book, noting that this book makes use of both scientific and ethical analyses to show why nuclear proponents’ arguments err, why CC deniers are wrong, and how scientific-methodological understanding can advance sound energy policy—including conservation, renewable energy, and energy efficiencies.
Michael Brown and Eduardo Fernandez
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520074354
- eISBN:
- 9780520911352
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520074354.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Latin American Cultural Anthropology
This is the story of a failed uprising in the Peruvian Amazon—told largely by people who were there. Late in 1965, Asháninka Indians, members of one of the Amazon's largest native tribes, joined ...
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This is the story of a failed uprising in the Peruvian Amazon—told largely by people who were there. Late in 1965, Asháninka Indians, members of one of the Amazon's largest native tribes, joined forces with Marxist revolutionaries who had opened a guerrilla front in Asháninka territory. They fought, and were crushed by, the overwhelming military force of the Peruvian government. Why did the Indians believe this alliance would deliver them from poverty and the depredations of colonization on their rainforest home? The book tells about an Amazonian people whose contacts with outsiders have repeatedly begun in hope and ended in tragedy. The players in this dramatic confrontation included militants of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left, the U. S. Embassy, the Peruvian military, a “renegade” American settler, and the Asháninka Indians themselves. Using press reports and archival sources as well as oral histories, the chapters weave a tapestry of narratives and counternarratives that challenges the official history of the guerrilla struggle. Central to the story is the Asháninkas' persistent hope that a messiah would lead them to freedom, a belief with roots in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century jungle rebellions and religious movements.Less
This is the story of a failed uprising in the Peruvian Amazon—told largely by people who were there. Late in 1965, Asháninka Indians, members of one of the Amazon's largest native tribes, joined forces with Marxist revolutionaries who had opened a guerrilla front in Asháninka territory. They fought, and were crushed by, the overwhelming military force of the Peruvian government. Why did the Indians believe this alliance would deliver them from poverty and the depredations of colonization on their rainforest home? The book tells about an Amazonian people whose contacts with outsiders have repeatedly begun in hope and ended in tragedy. The players in this dramatic confrontation included militants of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left, the U. S. Embassy, the Peruvian military, a “renegade” American settler, and the Asháninka Indians themselves. Using press reports and archival sources as well as oral histories, the chapters weave a tapestry of narratives and counternarratives that challenges the official history of the guerrilla struggle. Central to the story is the Asháninkas' persistent hope that a messiah would lead them to freedom, a belief with roots in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century jungle rebellions and religious movements.
Timothy Wickham-Crowley
Susan Eva Eckstein (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520237445
- eISBN:
- 9780520936980
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520237445.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Latin American Cultural Anthropology
The idea of a family level society, discussed and disputed by anthropologists for nearly half a century, assumes moving, breathing form in this book. According to the book's ethnography, the ...
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The idea of a family level society, discussed and disputed by anthropologists for nearly half a century, assumes moving, breathing form in this book. According to the book's ethnography, the Matsigenka people of southeastern Peru cannot be understood or appreciated except as a family level society; the family level of sociocultural integration is for them a lived reality. Under ordinary circumstances, the largest social units are individual households or small extended-family hamlets. In the absence of such “tribal” features as villages, territorial defense and warfare, local or regional leaders, and public ceremonials, these people put a premium on economic self-reliance, control of aggression within intimate family settings, and freedom to believe and act in their own perceived self-interest. The book shows how the Matsigenka, whose home is the Amazon rainforest, are able to meet virtually all their material needs with the skills and labor available to the individual household. They try to raise their children to be independent and self-reliant, yet in control of their emotional, impulsive natures, so that they can get along in intimate, cooperative living groups. Their belief that self-centered impulsiveness is dangerous and self-control is fulfilling anchors their moral framework, which is expressed in abundant stories and myths. Although, as the book points out, such people are often described in negative terms as lacking in features of social and cultural complexity, it finds their small-community lifestyle efficient, rewarding, and very well adapted to their environment.Less
The idea of a family level society, discussed and disputed by anthropologists for nearly half a century, assumes moving, breathing form in this book. According to the book's ethnography, the Matsigenka people of southeastern Peru cannot be understood or appreciated except as a family level society; the family level of sociocultural integration is for them a lived reality. Under ordinary circumstances, the largest social units are individual households or small extended-family hamlets. In the absence of such “tribal” features as villages, territorial defense and warfare, local or regional leaders, and public ceremonials, these people put a premium on economic self-reliance, control of aggression within intimate family settings, and freedom to believe and act in their own perceived self-interest. The book shows how the Matsigenka, whose home is the Amazon rainforest, are able to meet virtually all their material needs with the skills and labor available to the individual household. They try to raise their children to be independent and self-reliant, yet in control of their emotional, impulsive natures, so that they can get along in intimate, cooperative living groups. Their belief that self-centered impulsiveness is dangerous and self-control is fulfilling anchors their moral framework, which is expressed in abundant stories and myths. Although, as the book points out, such people are often described in negative terms as lacking in features of social and cultural complexity, it finds their small-community lifestyle efficient, rewarding, and very well adapted to their environment.
Allen Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520232419
- eISBN:
- 9780520936294
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520232419.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Latin American Cultural Anthropology
The idea of a family level society, discussed and disputed by anthropologists for nearly half a century, assumes moving, breathing form in this book. According to this ethnography, the Matsigenka ...
More
The idea of a family level society, discussed and disputed by anthropologists for nearly half a century, assumes moving, breathing form in this book. According to this ethnography, the Matsigenka people of southeastern Peru cannot be understood or appreciated except as a family level society; the family level of sociocultural integration is for them a lived reality. Under ordinary circumstances, the largest social units are individual households or small extended-family hamlets. In the absence of such “tribal” features as villages, territorial defense and warfare, local or regional leaders, and public ceremonials, these people put a premium on economic self-reliance, control of aggression within intimate family settings, and freedom to believe and act in their own perceived self-interest. The book shows how the Matsigenka, whose home is the Amazon rainforest, are able to meet virtually all their material needs with the skills and labor available to the individual household. They try to raise their children to be independent and self-reliant, yet in control of their emotional, impulsive natures, so that they can get along in intimate, cooperative living groups. Their belief that self-centered impulsiveness is dangerous and self-control is fulfilling anchors their moral framework, which is expressed in abundant stories and myths. Although, as the book points out, such people are often described in negative terms as lacking in features of social and cultural complexity, it finds their small-community lifestyle efficient, rewarding, and very well adapted to their environment.Less
The idea of a family level society, discussed and disputed by anthropologists for nearly half a century, assumes moving, breathing form in this book. According to this ethnography, the Matsigenka people of southeastern Peru cannot be understood or appreciated except as a family level society; the family level of sociocultural integration is for them a lived reality. Under ordinary circumstances, the largest social units are individual households or small extended-family hamlets. In the absence of such “tribal” features as villages, territorial defense and warfare, local or regional leaders, and public ceremonials, these people put a premium on economic self-reliance, control of aggression within intimate family settings, and freedom to believe and act in their own perceived self-interest. The book shows how the Matsigenka, whose home is the Amazon rainforest, are able to meet virtually all their material needs with the skills and labor available to the individual household. They try to raise their children to be independent and self-reliant, yet in control of their emotional, impulsive natures, so that they can get along in intimate, cooperative living groups. Their belief that self-centered impulsiveness is dangerous and self-control is fulfilling anchors their moral framework, which is expressed in abundant stories and myths. Although, as the book points out, such people are often described in negative terms as lacking in features of social and cultural complexity, it finds their small-community lifestyle efficient, rewarding, and very well adapted to their environment.
