Description
Book SynopsisPlacing emphasis on the close relationship between humans and their natural environment, this book examines how alterations in the natural world mirror human cultures, societies, and languages. It explores thousands of years of ecological history while addressing important contemporary issues, such as biodiversity and genetic variation and change.
Trade ReviewA welcome addition. -- Emilio F. Moran Quarterly Review of Biology This book succeeds admirably in advancing the theoretical status and ethnographic scope of the historical ecological research position. -- Stanford Zent Journal of Anthropological Research A well-crafted and well-rounded selection of case studies and will unquestionably make a splendid addition to the shelves. -- Carlos E. A. Coimbra Jr. Human Ecology The disciplinary diversity among the chapters yields a well-rounded perspective on the topic. Landscape Ecology
Table of ContentsPreface Contributors Time, Complexity, and Historical Ecology, by William Balee and Clark L. Erickson Part 1 1. The Feral Forests of the Eastern Peten, by David G. Campbell, Anabel Ford, Karen S. Lowell, Jay Walker, Jeffrey K. Lake, Constanza Ocampo-Raeder, Andrew Townesmith, and Michael Balick 2. A Neotropical Framework for Terra Preta, by Elizabeth Graham 3. Domesticated Food and Society in Early Coastal Peru, by Christine A. Hastorf 4. Microvertebrate Synecology and Anthropogenic Footprints in the Forested Neotropics, by Peter W. Stahl Part 2 5. Pre-European Forest Cultivation in Amazonia, by William M. Denevan 6. Fruit Trees and the Transition to Food Production in Amazonia, by Charles R. Clement 7. The Historical Ecology of a Complex Landscape in Bolivia, Clark L. Erickson and William Balee 8. The Domesticated Landscapes of the Bolivian Amazon, by Clark L. Erickson 9. Political Economy and Pre-Columbian Landscape Transformations in Central Amazonia, by Eduardo G. Neves and James B. Petersen 10. History, Ecology, and Alterity: Visualizing Polity in Ancient Amazonia, by Michael Heckenberger 11. Between the Ship and the Bulldozer: Historical Ecology of Guaja Subsistence, Sociality, and Symbolism After 1500, by Loretta A. Cormier 12. Landscapes of the Past, Footprints of the Future: Historical Ecology and the Study of Contemporary Land-Use Change in the Amazon, by Eduardo S. Brondizio Index
