The Environmental Dynamics of a Colonial Fuel-Rush: Silver Mining and Deforestation in New Spain, 1522 to 1810

Studnicki-Gizbert, Daviken; Schecter, David L.

doi:10.1093/envhis/emq007

Cited by 73 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Colonial period agencies of land-degradation invoked from this viewpoint involve most-often over-grazing of grasslands of lowlands, leading to desertification and deforestation in upland zones related to mining activities (cf. Melville, 1997;Studnicki-Gizbert and Schecter, 2010). These theories are based upon historical data as opposed to palaeo-ecological sources.…”

Section: Introduction and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prehistoric and Colonial land-use in the Chihuahuan Desert as inferred from pollen and sedimentary data from Coahuila, Mexico

Albert

2015

Quaternary International

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Section: Introduction and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prehistoric and Colonial land-use in the Chihuahuan Desert as inferred from pollen and sedimentary data from Coahuila, Mexico

Albert

2015

Quaternary International

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“…This site was originally covered by extensive oak forests, but trees were selectively felled to use them as fuel in the smelters of local mines of gold and silver between the 16 th and 18 th centuries (Studnicki-Gizbert and Schecter, 2010). Currently, the landscape of the study site is composed by disperse patches (approximately 70 patches located 20-30 m away each other) of the softwood oak Quercus laeta Liebm.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relevance of Burial to Evade Acorn Predation in an Oak Forest Affected by Habitat Loss and Land Use Changes

Palacios¹,

Badano²

2014

Bot. Sci.

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Abstract:Seed burial has been proposed as an effective mechanism to evade predation in continuous forests. However, its relevance may be compromised in fragmented forests because: (1) predators are usually concentrated within forests patches, which elevates consumer pressure on seeds; and (2) fragmentation reduces seed production in remnant trees, decreasing food availability for seed consumers. Thus, predators might be forced to consume buried seeds after seeds on the soil surface are depleted. Indeed, they may explore the surrounding matrix in search of food when seeds within patches become scarce. This study assesses these issues in a fragmented oak forest where human activities have generated four habitat types: forest patches, patch edges, matrix habitat surrounding patches, and an abandoned agricultural fi eld in the neighborhoods of the fragmented forest. In this landscape, we assessed what animals consume acorn and compared removal rates between buried acorns and acorns exposed on the soil surface across these habitat types. Mice of the genus Peromyscus and birds of the genus Aphelocoma were the main responsible of removing acorns in all habitats types, but mice were only recorded during night and birds were only recorded during day. Buried acorns were less removed (12-35%) than exposed ones (42-68%) in the matrix habitat and the abandoned fi eld. Nevertheless, within forest patches and their edges, buried (78-81%) and exposed acorns (91%) showed no differences in removal rates. These results suggest that burial may be an effective mechanism to evade acorn predation in habitats strongly affected by human activities, while it would have little relevance within forest patches. Keywords: birds, fragmentation, Mexico, mice, seed predation.Resumen: El enterramiento de semillas es considerado un mecanismo efectivo para evadir la depredación en bosques continuos. Sin embargo, su importancia puede verse comprometida en bosques fragmentados debido a que: (1) los depredadores suelen concentrarse en los parches de bosque, lo que eleva la presión de consumo sobre las semillas; y (2) la fragmentación reduce la producción de semillas en los árboles remanentes, lo que disminuye la disponibilidad de alimentos para sus consumidores. Así, los depredadores podrían verse obligados a consumir semillas enterradas después de agotar las semillas en la superfi cie del suelo. De hecho, podrían incluso explorar el hábitat circundante en busca de comida cuando las semillas dentro de los parches escaseen. Este estudio se enfoca en estos temas en un encinar fragmentado, donde las actividades humanas generaron cuatro tipos de hábi-tats: el interior de los parches de bosque, sus bordes, la matriz de hábitat que rodea los parches, y un campo agrícola abandonado colindante al bosque fragmentado. En este paisaje se evaluó cuáles animales contribuyen a movilizar las bellotas, y se compararon las tasas de sustracción entre bellotas enterradas y expuestas en la superfi cie del suelo a través de esos tipos de hábitat. Ratones del género Perom...

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“…Some historians have argued that the decline in the Native population reduced pressures on the land and water resources, even to the point of allowing for environmental recovery . Most recently, Daviken Studnicki‐Gizbert and David Schecter () reframed the terms of the discussion by showing that silver mining generated enormous demand for fuel wood, which denuded forests across northern Mexico. The scoured landscapes contributed to the rise of new types of agriculture and pastoralism that, in the end, undermined the subsistence basis for indigenous communities and forced Native peoples to relocate or be incorporated into colonial society …”

Section: A Brief History Of Colonial Mexican Environmental Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Loreto López, Una vista de ojos ; Miño Grijalva, “El otoño de la muerte,” 591–626; Studnicki‐Gizbert and Schecter, “The Environmental Dynamics of a Colonial Fuel‐Rush,” 100.…”

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The Environmental History of Colonial Mexico

Conway

2017

History Compass

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In spite of the sizable scholarly literature on New Spain, and notwithstanding the fact that environmental history is now a highly influential field, on first glance, there seem to be surprisingly few works of environmental history for colonial Mexico. Or are there? This article suggests that as a multi‐disciplinary enterprise and as an area of history that overlaps and blends with many others, the environmental history of colonial Mexico has been far more abundant than a first glance might suggest. The blurring of the boundaries between disciplines and different kinds of history has become a hallmark of the scholarship in recent years. The adoption of methodological approaches from microhistory has become another. Together, these trends challenge our ideas about what it means to study environmental history even as they point us towards new opportunities for research.

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The Environmental Dynamics of a Colonial Fuel-Rush: Silver Mining and Deforestation in New Spain, 1522 to 1810

Cited by 73 publications

References 11 publications

Prehistoric and Colonial land-use in the Chihuahuan Desert as inferred from pollen and sedimentary data from Coahuila, Mexico

Prehistoric and Colonial land-use in the Chihuahuan Desert as inferred from pollen and sedimentary data from Coahuila, Mexico

The Relevance of Burial to Evade Acorn Predation in an Oak Forest Affected by Habitat Loss and Land Use Changes

The Environmental History of Colonial Mexico

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