When the shifting agriculture is gone: functionality of Atlantic Coastal Forest in abandoned farming sites

Slash-and-burn agriculture has been practiced for a very long time by the traditional populations (caiçaras) on Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. After a few years of use the plots are abandoned to fallow. We examined the processes of litter production and decomposition and the relationships between forest lands used by caiçara populations and landscape functionality. Five and 25-year-old forests growing on areas once used for subsistence agriculture were compared to a near-climax forest site. No significant differences between the three areas were noted in terms of litter production over a 2-yr period; the average litter productions were 9,927, 8,707 and 10,031 kg/ha/yr for the 5-year, 25-year and climax forests respectively. N and K nutrient input through litter was greatest in the climax forest; P and Mg input was greatest in the 5-yr forest; and Na greatest in the 25-yr forest. Ground litter accumulation (3,040-3,730 kg/ha/yr) was not significantly different in the three areas. Litter turnover times (1/K) were 0.33, 0.42 and 0.38 for the 5-yr, 25-yr and climax forests respectively. These secondary forests cover almost all of Ilha Grande and demonstrate low species diversity, but they have production and decomposition systems similar to those of mature forests

O Branco Arroz Negro: A História Oculta de um Alimento de Todo o Dia

Book Review: Judith A. Carney, Arroz Negro: As Origens Africanas do Cultivo Do Arroz Nas Américas (Bissau: Instituto da Biodiversidade e das Áreas Protegidas, 2017).Book Review: Judith A. Carney, Arroz Negro: As Origens Africanas do Cultivo Do Arroz Nas Américas (Bissau: Instituto da Biodiversidade e das Áreas Protegidas, 2017).Book Review: Judith A. Carney, Arroz Negro: As Origens Africanas do Cultivo Do Arroz Nas Américas (Bissau: Instituto da Biodiversidade e das Áreas Protegidas, 2017)

About agricultural manuals, gardens and coffee plantations: mosaics and landscape transformation in the Paraiba do Sul Valley, Brazil

Economic cycles have often become the landscape matrix, in a hybrid process of society-nature transformation, leaving distinct legacies in it. The coffee plantation showed great productivity in the Paraíba do Sul Valley to the detriment of forests, resulting in profound changes in geo-hydric cycles. Although the transformation by coffee has been significant on a spatial scale and in environmental changes, the Paraíba do Sul Valley landscape needs to be understood in a broader perspective. There were also other crops in the landscape inside or outside large estates. This work aims to recognize the spatial organization of these cultures and develop an understanding of the pattern of the coffee landscape, showing the performance of different social actors. The methodology consisted of a bibliographic review and analysis of historical agricultural manuals. Spatializing such past activities and social groups in the landscape shows us what was previously hidden, omitted by the traditional historical narrative This research showed that colonial knowledge developed a landscape compartmentalization, spatializing the crops according to pedological and topographic evidence.Economic cycles have often become the landscape matrix, in a hybrid process of society-nature transformation, leaving distinct legacies in it. The coffee plantation showed great productivity in the Paraíba do Sul Valley to the detriment of forests, resulting in profound changes in geo-hydric cycles. Although the transformation by coffee has been significant on a spatial scale and in environmental changes, the Paraíba do Sul Valley landscape needs to be understood in a broader perspective. There were also other crops in the landscape inside or outside large estates. This work aims to recognize the spatial organization of these cultures and develop an understanding of the pattern of the coffee landscape, showing the performance of different social actors. The methodology consisted of a bibliographic review and analysis of historical agricultural manuals. Spatializing such past activities and social groups in the landscape shows us what was previously hidden, omitted by the traditional historical narrative This research showed that colonial knowledge developed a landscape compartmentalization, spatializing the crops according to pedological and topographic evidence.Economic cycles have often become the landscape matrix, in a hybrid process of society-nature transformation, leaving distinct legacies in it. The coffee plantation showed great productivity in the Paraíba do Sul Valley to the detriment of forests, resulting in profound changes in geo-hydric cycles. Although the transformation by coffee has been significant on a spatial scale and in environmental changes, the Paraíba do Sul Valley landscape needs to be understood in a broader perspective. There were also other crops in the landscape inside or outside large estates. This work aims to recognize the spatial organization of these cultures and develop an understanding of the pattern of the coffee landscape, showing the performance of different social actors. The methodology consisted of a bibliographic review and analysis of historical agricultural manuals. Spatializing such past activities and social groups in the landscape shows us what was previously hidden, omitted by the traditional historical narrative This research showed that colonial knowledge developed a landscape compartmentalization, spatializing the crops according to pedological and topographic evidence

Three Hypotheses Concerning the Human Dimension of the Atlantic Forest´s Biodiversity

Em uma perspectiva histórica, considera-se que o legado ambiental que nos chegou até hoje é produto da histórica relação de populações passadas com o meio. São propostas três hipóteses ligadas à dimensão humana da biodiversidade da Mata Atlântica: 1) A baixa palatabilidade da biomassa vegetal pelo ser humano deixou como alternativa alimentar a caça, o que provocou históricas alterações na paisagem; 2) A agricultura migratória consiste em uma fonte significativa de alterações na estrutura e composição da Mata Atlântica e 3) O uso das florestas como fonte energética a partir do século XVII é um fator determinante na diversidade da Mata Atlântica. As hipóteses aqui discutidas não são únicas - outras podem se sobrepor aos fatores que induziram alterações antrópicas históricas. Em termos de escala de tempo considera-se um espectro amplo, abarcando-se desde a presença de populações de coletores-caçadores de 8.000 anos, passando-se por etnias que praticavam a agricultura e o período pós-colonial.Palavras-Chave: Paisagem; Populações Tradicionais; Populações Pré-Coloniais; Dinâmica FlorestalThe environmental legacy of contemporary ecosystems is the product of the historical relation of past population with the environment. We propose three hypotheses of the human dimensions of biodiversity of the Atlantic Coastal Forest: 1) hunting, as a consequence of the low palatability of existing plant biomass, caused significant historical landscape modifications; 2) shifting cultivation (slash-and-burn) consists in an important source of structural and compositional change of the Atlantic Coastal Forest and 3) the use of forest biomass to produce charcoal as an important source of energy, starting in the XVII century, is an important factor determining species diversity of the Atlantic Coastal Forest. These hypotheses do not necessarily stand by themselves. Other explanations can be superimposed to the factors of human induced historical forest modification. The time scale that we used for this discussion was fairly broad, spanning from hunter-gatherer population of about 8.000 years ago, to more modern ethnic groups that practiced slash-and-burn agriculture, all the way up to the post-colonial period of increasing population and urbanization.Keywords: Landscape; Traditional Populations; Pre-Colonial Populations; Forest Dynamics

Bridging Continents in Teaching Environmental History: Rio de Janeiro and Vienna

This paper presents and critically discusses an experiment in environmental history didactics. For the first time - as far as we know - an intercontinental course in environmental history was designed and offered, simultaneously in Vienna (Austria) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). From an environmental history perspective a city is a socio-natural site, its present shape is the result of a co-evolutionary process of nature and society. This paper is a teacher’s reflection about the potentials and limitations of e-learning and blended learning (the combination of face-to-face and virtual communication) based teaching of urban environmental history in an intercontinental, multilingual and intercultural setting

Bridging Continents in Teaching Environmental History: Rio de Janeiro and Vienna

This paper presents and critically discusses an experiment in environmental history didactics. For the first time - as far as we know - an intercontinental course in environmental history was designed and offered, simultaneously in Vienna (Austria) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). From an environmental history perspective a city is a socio-natural site, its present shape is the result of a co-evolutionary process of nature and society. This paper is a teacher’s reflection about the potentials and limitations of e-learning and blended learning (the combination of face-to-face and virtual communication) based teaching of urban environmental history in an intercontinental, multilingual and intercultural setting