Persistence of Swidden Cultivation in the Face of Globalization: A Case Study from Communities in Calakmul, Mexico

Schmook, Birgit; Vliet, N. Van; Radel, Claudia; Manzón-Che, María de Jesús; McCandless, Susannah R.

doi:10.1007/s10745-012-9557-5

Cited by 59 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…These anthropogenic interventions created a landscape composed of secondary forests at various stages of succession, mixed with pasture land and patches of slash-and-burn agriculture and a few patches of remaining primary forest (Ochoa-Gaona et al 2007;Rueda 2010). Slash-and-burn agriculture is still one of the major land uses for Mayan farmers in southeastern Mexico (Schmook et al 2013). One of the key challenges for modern ecologists is to understand the patterns, processes and pathways of carbon cycling in transitional forests at fine spatial and temporal scales (Thuille and Schulze 2006;Malhi 2012), as lack of understanding of forest functioning can lead to inappropriate management and governance strategies for these transitional forest frontiers in the tropics (Román-Dañobeytia et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Successional and seasonal variation in litterfall and associated nutrient transfer in semi-evergreen tropical forests of SE Mexico

Aryal

Jong

Ochoa-Gaona

et al. 2015

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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Forest conversion to agriculture and grassland has been widespread in south-eastern Mexico. The productivity, functioning and carbon dynamics of secondary forests growing after abandonment of agricultural fields are expected to differ from those of primary forests. This study analysed whether forest age and seasonal variations affect the amount and temporal distribution of litterfall and associated nutrient transfer. Litterfall was measured across a chronosequence of semi-evergreen tropical forest in Calakmul, Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, and an index was created to evaluate the effect of land use intensity on litterfall collected in 16 stands from October 2012 to September 2014. Total litterfall ranged from 5.2 ± 0.6 to 7.1 ± 0.3 Mg ha -1 year -1 and peaked in secondary forest aged 10-20 years. Leaves contributed 84-91 % of total litterfall. The associated transfer of carbon ranged from 2.3 ± 0.3 to 3.2 ± 0.1 Mg ha -1 year -1 and of nitrogen from 62 ± 7 to 84 ± 4 kg ha -1 year -1 . Carbon and nutrient accumulation in the organic horizon (Oa) increased significantly with forest age. However, carbon in mineral soil (down to 0.30 m depth) did not increase over time. Peaks in monthly litterfall coincided with the dry season, with higher peaks in a year with lower rainfall in the dry season. Peaks were also higher in secondary forests than in primary forests, due to changes in species composition. Higher land use intensity reduced carbon and nutrient transfer through litter in regenerating secondary forests. Longer-term research is required to analyse the climate sensitivity of litter dynamics in these tropical forest frontiers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Successional and seasonal variation in litterfall and associated nutrient transfer in semi-evergreen tropical forests of SE Mexico

Aryal

Jong

Ochoa-Gaona

et al. 2015

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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“…Unless interrupted by specific disturbances such as fire-friendly plant invasion or management practices, post-fire vegetation grows back at a rapid rate after a burn. In much of the Yucatán Peninsula, secondary vegetation can reach a height of 10 m within-five years of clearing [36][37][38]. As a consequence, there is typically only a short window of time to detect land change.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the distinction can be easily Fire in the Yucatán is not only an environmental disturbance, but also the main land-clearing tool in the region. It precedes most land conversion (e.g., urbanization, clear-cut deforestation) and land modification events such as shifting cultivation, pasture maintenance, and secondary vegetation regrowth [32,[37][38][39][40]. Persistence and maintenance of non-forest land cover types (e.g., pasture, various crops, early secondary vegetation) are also controlled by fire.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire Data as Proxy for Anthropogenic Landscape Change in the Yucatán

Millones

Rogan

Turner

et al. 2017

Land

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Abstract:Fire is one of the earliest and most common tools used by humans to modify the earth surface. Landscapes in the Yucatán Peninsula are composed of a mosaic of old growth subtropical forest, secondary vegetation, grasslands, and agricultural land that represent a well-documented example of anthropogenic intervention, much of which involves the use of fire. This research characterizes land use systems and land cover changes in the Yucatán during the 2000-2010 time period. We used an active fire remotely sensed data time series from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), in combination with forest loss, and anthrome map sources to (1) establish the association between fire and land use change in the region; and (2) explore links between the spatial and temporal patterns of fire and specific types of land use practices, including within-and between-anthromes variability. A spatial multinomial logit model was constructed using fire, landscape configuration, and a set of commonly used control variables to estimate forest persistence, non-forest persistence, and change. Cross-tabulations and descriptive statistics were used to explore the relationships between fire occurrence, location, and timing with respect to the geography of land use. We also compared fire frequencies within and between anthrome groups using a negative binomial model and Tukey pairwise comparisons. Results show that fire data broadly reproduce the geography and timing of anthropogenic land change. Findings indicate that fire and landscape configuration is useful in explaining forest change and non-forest persistence, especially in fragmented (mosaicked) landscapes. Absence of fire occurrence is related usefully to the persistence of spatially continuous core areas of older growth forest. Fire has a positive relationship with forest to non-forest change and a negative relationship with forest persistence. Fire is also a good indicator to distinguish between anthrome groups (e.g., croplands and villages). Our study suggests that active fire data series are a reasonable proxy for anthropogenic land persistence/change in the context of the Yucatán and are useful to differentiate quantitatively and qualitatively between and within anthromes.

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“…Se decidió por 10 ha, debido a que en el área de estudio el tamaño promedio de las parcelas que son permanentemente deforestadas y dedicadas a actividades pecuarias se encuentra entre 8 y 20 ha. En la región se ha observado que áreas menores son comúnmente utilizados como áreas de agricultura de roza tumba y quema y las áreas menores de agricultura son abandonadas una vez agotadas (Schmook et al 2013). La variable distancia a localidad urbana más cercana se obtuvo midiendo la distancia entre el punto medio del transecto y el límite de la localidad urbana más cercana utilizando la herramienta Nearest Features de ArcGis.…”

Section: Generación De Capas De Información Geográfica Y Variables Deunclassified

Landscape variables that influence the presence of brocket deer (Mazama sp.) in the Campeche State, México

Contreras‐Moreno

Cruz-Félix²,

Bello-Gutiérrez

et al. 2016

Therya

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The brocket deer (Mazama temama and M. pandora) are two of the Mexican tropical deer with great importance for subsistence and sport hunters. Brocket deer are considered species with preference for pristine habitats conserved, however at the landscape level, factors such as hunting pressure could influence the presence and abundance of these species. Campeche, is the only Mexican state where it has been authorized the exploitation of the brocket deer for sport hunting. This hunting pressure along with the intense subsistence hunting that occurs in Campeche, could have important effects on the conservation of the species. Establishing what factors determine the presence of the species at the landscape level is essential to elaborate comprehensive management plans of these species to allow their long-term conservation. The aim of this study was to determine the habitat variables at the landscape level that influence the brocket deer presence in the central-western area of Campeche State in Mexico. The study area in the state of Campeche (19° 15' N, -91º 20´ W) was divided into six study regions (Chekubul-Cristalina; Chenkan; Chicbul-Km 74; Pixtún-Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Miguel Colorado; Centenario-La Rigueña) following the main paved road of the area and according to the conservation level of the natural ecosystems, presence of flooded areas, and intensity of the human activities where we determine the presence of brocket deer. We searched for brocket deer tracks along 263 transects of 500 m each. The tracks were identified to genus only. The presence/absence of brocket deer in the transects was combined with variables of human and natural origin of the study area in a geographical information system. We use principal component analysis and a logistic regression to determine the relationship between variables and the presence/absence of the brocket deer. We were not able to distinguish by their tracks the two potentially distributed species of brocket deer in the area. Due to this constraint, we did not perform a distinction between both species and all the observed tracks were classified as brocket deer. We found that brocket deer were present only in three of the six studied regions: Miguel Colorado (21.3 % transect had brocket deer presence), Centenario-La Rigueña (20.4 %) and Chenkan (1.7 %). The principal component analysis indicated that the variables determining the presence of brocket deer were, the percentage of preserved forest and distance to pastures, positively associated, while livestock density was negative. The best model obtained by the logistic regression showed that the presence of brocket deer increased when the percentage of preserved forests around transect is increased, while decreasing with increasing livestock density. The presence of conserved forests favors the presence of brocket deer in the study area, while a higher density of cattle decreases the probability of detection. The few records of brocket deer in flooded zones in this study and the lack of detection of the species in previo...

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Persistence of Swidden Cultivation in the Face of Globalization: A Case Study from Communities in Calakmul, Mexico

Cited by 59 publications

References 52 publications

Successional and seasonal variation in litterfall and associated nutrient transfer in semi-evergreen tropical forests of SE Mexico

Successional and seasonal variation in litterfall and associated nutrient transfer in semi-evergreen tropical forests of SE Mexico

Fire Data as Proxy for Anthropogenic Landscape Change in the Yucatán

Landscape variables that influence the presence of brocket deer (Mazama sp.) in the Campeche State, México

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